| Together, we can continue writing a better future where everyone can thrive. It's been an honor to represent the people of 8B and I'm thrilled to run for re-election to serve eastern Duluth.
As your DFL and Labor endorsed candidate, my roots in Duluth and our communities run deep. I was born and raised in Duluth to my Ojibwe mother and Mexican father, and was raised by my fiercely strong grandmother who was a hospital nutrition worker turned educator that raised me off a teacher's pension. I'm the child of a father who worked as a union electrician and a mother, who with an eighth grade education, worked as a housekeeper and child care provider that instilled in me the value of taking care of this place and others.
My grandmother showed me how to trailblaze through any obstacle, something I've done as a co-founder of KwePack (a grassroots Indigenous Wellness Group), a first-generation graduate from the University of Minnesota Duluth, going on to earn a Master's of Business Administration from the College of St. Scholastica, serving as Community Relations Officer for the the City of Duluth, and beyond.
A voice like mine has never represented District 8B or Minnesota. Liish is the first Ojibwe and Latine person to serve Duluth and the first non-binary/Two Spirit person to be elected to the Minnesota State legislature. Entering their first term, they held holding leadership positions as Vice Chair of the House POCI Caucus - a powerful bloc of Black, Brown, and Indigenous members and co-founder of the Minnesota Queer Caucus.
At the Capitol and in community, we worked urgently and collaboratively to direct investments to our region that will positively impact us for generations to come. We focused on securing funding for local infrastructure projects while championing affordable housing, strengthening worker's rights, taking action to address climate change, advancing education equity, and creating an inclusive economy in a more just Minnesota.
Together, we successfully moved a bold agenda because we worked in deep relationship with our community. From COVID economic relief grants for small and minority-owned businesses, new funding for Duluth nursing homes to care for seniors and workers, major funding increases for Local Government Aid (LGA) and the Duluth Public Schools to ease reliance on local property taxes, expand tenant's rights and tackle economic and racial wealth gaps in homeownership, to critical infrastructure projects that will strengthen our economy and make our community more vibrant.
I remain committed to be a responsive leader and a champion for Duluth by standing up for all of us and for the land, waters, and people of this place.
As your state legislator, I will keep using our collective power to harness local, grassroots effort to directly influence, write, and shape both local and statewide policy to drive home new systems of care through community-led and community-centered solutions. |