Foung Hawj

Foung was born in Laos. His father was a military diplomat overseeing air deliveries of humanitarian cargo in Vientiane and Long Tieng.[1] His mother, a country girl without education, learned to operate a pharmacy in Ban Xon City.[2] Foung grew up during the Vietnam War and lived in refugee camps with his family before coming to the United States.[3] In 1990, he received his B.A. in Media Arts and Computer Science from the University of Kansas and earned his M.S. in Applied Science and Technology from New York's Rochester Institute of Technology in 2001.

Foung was a series producer for Twin Cities Public Television in the 1990s before starting his own multimedia business in 1996, Digital Motion LLC. He co-founded the Hmong-American DFL Caucus in 1992[4] and other community organizations including Center for the Hmong Arts and Talent,[5] the Minnesota Hmong Chamber of Commerce and Gateway Food Initiative Co-op which launched the development of the Mississippi Market on East 7th Street.[6]

Foung ran for office in 2012 and won the primary without political endorsements except for the Sierra Club and a broad coalition of people that included the Hmong-American community, Latino, Somali, and African American voters.[7] He went on to win the general election on November 6, 2012.[8] His legislative concerns include economic development, social and economic equity, education, housing, environment, and healthcare.[9] Some of his first term accomplishments for District 67 include new business developments on 7th Street, the Science and Education Center for Metro State University, and job creation dollars to boost the local economy.

He kicked off his re-election campaign on January 16, 2016 at the Carpenter Union in his district. Hawj was re-elected in both 2016 and 2020 and served on the "Jobs and Economic Growth Finance and Policy" and "Veterans and Military Affairs Finance and Policy" and "Environment Policy and Legacy Finance" Committees. In terms of leadership roles, Hawj was the Chair of the St. Paul delegation (2013-2021), an Assistant Minority Leader (2020-2022), served as the Vice-Chair of Jobs and Economic Committee (2013-2016) and as the ranking minority member on the Agriculture Committee (2017-2020) and the Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Legacy Finance Committee (2021-2022).

After redistricting, Hawj was reelected to represent District 67 of East Side St. Paul in 2022 and became an Assistant Majority Leader in the Minnesota Senate and Chair of the Environment, Climate and Legacy Committee. He also served on Transportation Committee and Jobs and Economic Development Committee.

Foung is an outdoorsman and has worked as a videographer and scriptwriter, producing Hmong environmental videos.[10][11] He lives at the south end of Lake Phalen and is captain of a dragon boat team.[3] He spells his last name Hawj in RPA so that English-speakers can better approximate its pronunciation.[10]

• Foung Hawj at Minnesota Legislators Past & Present
• Senator Foung Hawj official Minnesota Senate website
• Senator Foung Hawj official campaign website
• Digital Motion LLC
• Foung Heu at WorldCat