Dem
51
GOP
49
Here is the city council of St. Paul, MN, roughly 150 years ago:
Here is the city council of St. Paul roughly 100 years ago:
Here is the city council of St. Paul roughly 50 years ago:
Here is the current city council of St. Paul, which was seated this week:
Perhaps you notice a slight difference between the first three councils as compared to the current one.
This is, as you might guess, the first time that St. Paul's city council has been all-female. As an added bonus, for those who value diversity and/or politicians who are not geriatrics, six of the seven are women of color and all seven are younger than 40. It's not like there's a database of American city councils to search, but the consensus is that St. Paul is either the largest city, or one of the largest, to have an all-female council.
St. Paul is apparently pretty pinko, so the new council is pretty pinko. All seven women are Democrats, as you might guess, and they largely come from backgrounds not traditionally associated with politics. A couple were teachers, for example, another pair were community organizers, one was a nonprofit executive and another is a civil engineer. The only "traditional" background is that one of them used to be a congressional aide.
The shift in council membership has unfolded pretty quickly; it was only 20 years ago that the council welcomed its first woman of color as a member, and it was only 6 years ago that the council became majority-female. In any event, the times they are a-changin'. Have a good weekend, all! (Z)