Mee Moua Politician
Mee Moua (RPA: Mim Muas, born June 30, 1969 in Xieng Khouang, Laos), is the president and executive director of the Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC). Prior to her current post, she served as the vice president for strategic impact initiatives at the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF), where she was the executive administrator of the Washington, D.C. office and managed the communications, government relations, policy analysis and research functions of the organization.Moua was the first Hmong American woman elected to a state legislature, where she served as a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. She represented District 67 in the Minnesota Senate, which includes portions of the city of Saint Paul in Ramsey County, which is in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. On May 16, 2010, she announced that she would not run for a third term.Moua chaired the Judiciary Committee and held the highest office of any Hmong American politician. She also served on the senate's Taxes and Transportation committees, and was a member of the Finance subcommittee for the Public Safety Budget Division and the Transportation Budget and Policy Division, of the Judiciary Subcommittee for Data Practices, and of the Taxes Subcommittee for the Property Tax Division.Moua was first elected with 60 percent of the vote in a special election held on January 29, 2002. She succeeded Senator Randy Kelly, who resigned after being elected mayor of Saint Paul. She was re-elected in November 2002 and, again, in November 2006.Moua's father was a medic in the Vietnam War. At the end of the war, her family fled to Thailand when Moua was five years old. In 1978 her family, along with other Hmong refugees, moved to the United States.Moua obtained an undergraduate degree from Brown University, a master's degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Minnesota Law School. In addition to her senate duties, she practices as an attorney. She is a member of the Democratic National Committee and also serves as a board member and as the Vice President for Strategic Impact Initiatives for the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum.She is married to Yee Chang, with whom she has three children.
