The 2023 city hall election cycle has begun, and Community Power and partners are again hosting opportunities to get to know candidates and what perspectives, experience, and insights they bring to energy. We will:
- Host in person & virtual candidate forums by ward on energy democracy and justice issues (see below for dates!)*
- Post candidates' responses to our Energy Questionnaire here and in our newsletter*
- Meet 1-1 with all candidates running for city hall to brief them on the history of energy decisions over the years locally
This page will be updated regularly with newly answered questionnaire, forum dates, and livestream recordings from forums. After November's election this page will be archived for reference and the words of whichever candidates are elected will be posting on our "Current City Leaders On Energy" page.
2023 Community Power Energy Questionnaire
(downloadable word version for candidates to fill out here)
Candidate Questionnaire Responses:
~Candidates are just getting started on these! Check back soon for more~
Ward 12: Luther Ranheim 2023 Community Power questionnaire
Ward 12: Jerome Evans 2023 Community Power questionnaire (has since withdrawn candidacy)
Ward 12: Aurin Chowdhury 2023 Community Power questionnaire
Ward 7: Scott Graham 2023 Community Power questionnaire
Check back in Late Summer for upcoming Ward Forums!
Past 2023 Ward Forums:
Ward 6 May 11th, 6:00-7:30pm @ Brian Coyle Neighborhood Center (Conference Room #1)
420 15th Ave. S, Minneapolis, MN 55454 Facebook Event Page
Co-hosts: Community Power, MN Environmental Justice Table, MN350, Minneapolis Climate Action
Guest presenter on rank-choice-voting: FairVote MN
Participating Candidates pictured from left to right:
Kayseh Magan, Tiger Worku, Abdirizak Bihi (has since withdrawn candidacy), Jamal Osman (Incumbent)
Recording of Ward 6 forum in 3 separate videos:
Question #1 on General Climate resilience and mitigation (starting at 1:09 in the video)
Question #2 on Connecting Energy to Renter’s Rights (starting at 6:40 in the video)
Question #3 on The Hennepin County Incinerator (starting at the beginning of the video)
Question #4 on Resourcing City-Wide Climate Action (starting at 7:00 in the video)
Question #5 on Nuclear Power & Holding Utility Companies Accountable (starting at the beginning of the video)
Question #6 on Receiving Community input (starting at 4:30 in the video)
Audience Question #1 on Municipally Owned Power (starting at 13:10 in this video)
Audience Question #2 on addressing the opioid crisis (starting at 19:15 in this video)
WARD 12
April 19th, 6:00-7:30pm
Roosevelt High School Auditorium here or by clicking image below.
Co-hosts: Community Power, MN Environmental Justice Table, MN350, Minneapolis Climate Action
Sponsored by: Line Break Media Guest presenter on rank-choice-voting: FairVote MN
Participating Candidates pictured from left to right:
Nancy Ford, Luther Ranheim, Aurin Chowdhury, Jerome Evans (has since withdrawn candidacy)
Here is a handy guide to skip to your favorite topic!
Listed are the specific topics with the time stamps for when in the video each respective question was asked, followed by candidates' responses.
1) Renters Rights & Energy, 10 Minutes 25 Seconds
2) Nuclear Power & The Downtown Incinerator, 18 Minutes
3) Funding City Climate Action at the scale needed, 26 Minutes 55 Seconds
4) Transitioning off fossil gas for heating, 33 Minutes 30 Seconds
5) Holding Xcel and CenterPoint Accountable to the City Partnership, 41 Minutes 20 Seconds
6) Leveraging local power with St. Paul, 48 Minutes 30 Seconds
7) The Roof Depot Site in East Phillips, 55 Minutes 30 Seconds
8) Campaign Contributions from utilities, 1 Hour 1 Minute 20 Seconds
9) Pollinator Friendly Yards, 1 Hour 2 Minutes
10) Electric Infrastructure, 1 Hour 8 Minutes 40 Seconds
11) Inspiration for Running. 1 Hour 16 Minutes
Ward 7
May 9th, 6:00 PM to 7:45 PM Loring Community Arts Center 1382 Willow St. , Minneapolis, MN 55403 Facebook Event Page
Co-hosts: Community Power, MN Environmental Justice Table, Unidos, Minneapolis Climate Action
Guest presenter on rank-choice-voting: Fair Vote MN
Participating Candidates pictured from left to right: Scott Graham, Kenneth Foxworth, Mark Globus, Katie Cashman
Climate & Equity Question at the Ward 8 forum hosted by Isaiah & Home to Stay-
Both candidates gave their brief introductions before MN 350 asked this following question:
"What city climate actions do you support? How would you propose we raise dedicated funds at the scale of tens of millions, not just thousands, so that we can scale up our efforts to support climate action beginning in the neighborhoods most affected by inequality?"
The following at timestamps in the video:
2:30 Mary from MN 350 introduces the topic of climate & equity question followed by the question.
5:00 Andrew Jenkins starts to answer
7:50 Soren Stevenson starts to answer
Background on Community Power's Candidate Forums
Community Power grew a city-wide discussion on local energy issues during the 2021 city council & mayoral elections, building on our 2013 Minneapolis Energy Options campaign, the 2017 candidate forums, and all the work in between. We invited every single candidate to meet with us, holding face to face gatherings with a wide majority of candidates, and held forums in multiple Wards in order to elevate and share knowledge on these issues. (You can see an questionnaire archive and video archive from responses and forums from ALL candidates (not just those who were elected).
*Note for Ward 3 Candidate Process for 2023: This year we will not be hosting a forum or posting questionnaires for candidates running for Ward 3. We have done this in order to comply with our status as a nonprofit 501c3 and avoid any unfair advantages on access to information, as one of our board members, who is a resident of Ward 3, has entered to run for office for that seat. We are still meeting 1-1 with all candidates in this Ward to give a primer on these important issues.