Olson's Cheers & Jeers:

Cheers to St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter for a gracious concession in which he resurfaced his own social media post from two years ago and wished Mayor-elect Kaohly Her good luck. Cheers as well to Minneapolis voters for record turnout. Let’s pump up those participation numbers even more in future years.

Jeers to Omar Fateh

The DFL state senator came up short in his attempt to oust Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and couldn’t be troubled to contact the two-term incumbent to concede graciously or otherwise after the race was called around noon Wednesday. In response to a reporter’s question at an afternoon event Wednesday, Frey said challengers DeWayne Davis and Jazz Hampton had reached out to him with the traditional concessionary and congratulatory call. It’s not a requirement to make the call, and it can’t be easy after a tough campaign, but it’s the right move. Politics is tough. You win some, you lose some and if you’re gracious, you live to fight another day, but being a sore loser is never a good look. It’s quite revealing. Four words are all that were needed, senator: “Congratulations and good luck.”

Cheers to 50 years of the Hmong community in Minnesota

And what a way to celebrate that milestone by electing state Rep. Kaohly Her as St. Paul mayor. A historic nod as well to Choua Lee, elected to the St. Paul Board of Education in 1991, the first local Hmong candidate to win election. Of Minnesota’s 100,000 Hmong immigrants, who fled war and persecution in Southeast Asia, about one third live in St. Paul. Sen. Foung Hawj, DFL-St. Paul, said Her’s election is especially poignant as Hmong people don’t have a national identity, a homeland. “Rep. Her is a solid-gold example of our American dream — our Hmong American dream,” he said. “I’m so happy for her.” And now Her’s challenging work at City Hall begins.

Jeers to Tom Emmer

The House majority whip brought the national shame spotlight to the state’s congressional delegation because of his enduring mean streak and parroting of President Donald Trump’s conspiracy theories. The outlet the Bulwark wrote that Emmer has abandoned any pretense of wanting to work across the aisle, describing him as “gratuitously nasty” and fond of “grade-school taunts.” The Bulwark cited a series of Emmer’s denigrating and childish insults of Gov. Tim Walz, the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Emmer even went so low as to mock Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s weight. The congressman has morphed into this political ogre. He wasn’t like this when he served in the Minnesota Legislature nearly 20 years ago, which means he has chosen to sink this low. We know Emmer’s capable of being civil, even nice. Unfortunately, we long ago abandoned hope that Emmer of old might seek to reclaim his soul.

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