Elections in Minneapolis are officially nonpartisan, but the Minneapolis City Charter allows mayoral and city council candidates to choose a party label to appear below their name on the official ballot. Ballotpedia includes candidates' party or principle to best reflect what voters will see on their ballot.[1]
Alicia Gibson was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Gibson's professional experience includes working as a clerk for Justice Brian Boatright, adjunct professor of cultural studies and literature, and bookstore owner. She earned a bachelor's degree from American University in 1999, a J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law in 2002, and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2012. [2]
General election for Minneapolis City Council Ward 10
The ranked-choice voting election was won by Aisha Chughtai in round 3 . The results of Round are displayed below. To see the results of other rounds, use the dropdown menu above to select a round and the table will update.
Undeclared Write-insUndeclared write-in candidates may advance past the first round in some ranked-choice elections. If the official source reports write-in votes by candidate name, Ballotpedia displays them alongside the ballot-qualified candidates. However, if write-in votes are reported without a name, they will instead be included in the total write-in votes figure in Round 1. Please consult the official elections source for more details about unnamed write-in candidate vote totals past Round 1.
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There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
Total votes: 10,659
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
Submitted Biography: "I am running TO EMPOWER those of us who live and work here to become active agents of positive change in the city decisions that impact our lives. TO SERVE this place I love with my unique set of skills and experiences in conflict resolution, law, education, and community advocacy as we co-create a city where we live together in peace and with justice. TO STRENGTHEN grassroots democracy by disarming divisive political rhetoric with joy, compassion, and competence. I have lived in Ward 10 for eleven years as a renter, a homeowner, a student, and a mom."
Key Messages
To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.
Restorative Justice -- There are 2 truths: we need police and we need real policing reform to restore the dignity of all.
Economic Justice -- Let's rebuild with a focus on equity: we have an opportunity to undo generations of harm and build back better.
Environmental Justice -- Climate change is an existential threat: we must all become agents of change.
This information was current as of the candidate's run for Minneapolis City Council Ward 10 in 2021.
Alicia Gibson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Gibson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
I am running TO EMPOWER those of us who live and work here to become active agents of positive change in the city decisions that impact our lives. TO SERVE this place I love with my unique set of skills and experiences in conflict resolution, law, education, and community advocacy as we co-create a city where we live together in peace and with justice. TO STRENGTHEN grassroots democracy by disarming divisive political rhetoric with joy, compassion, and competence. I have lived in Ward 10 for eleven years as a renter, a homeowner, a student, and a mom.
Gentrification and displacement would be at the center of my considerations in neighborhood planning. We need an economically sustainable level of growth of new buildings to ensure affordability over time (slow and steady growth instead of housing spikes), and we need to remove the barriers that keep us from transitioning currently existing buildings into new uses / housing in order to keep up with that sustainable growth of new housing units.
Public infrastructure that addresses a community need, and that includes those most impacted in its design processes from start to finish are the kinds of projects I support and will champion.
We have many environmental policies that are not adequately followed--we have policies regarding stormwater runoff and green spaces on developments, but these are often ignored when granting development variances. Related to this, our policies need to be more environmental holistic -- there are many competing interests even inside environmental sustainability and too often in our city the needs of the urban natural ecosystem itself is left aside. This is the replication of mindsets of domination. Another replication of a mindset of domination is the all too common practice of not including those most impacted as partners in the creation of projects and plans meant to address environmental goals. This means practically speaking, wasting money on projects that don't meet community needs so they will be underutilized or cause unintended negative consequences. Ethically speaking, it means those who have always been left out continue to be left out.
There is nothing progressive about privatizing public security, which is what happens in the absence of an adequately functioning police force--people arm themselves and turn to vigilante justice, and businesses hire private security to ensure the safety of their patrons. We do not want a multitude of armed people taking it upon themselves, or being forced to take it upon themselves, to maintain their personal security. The role of our police is to relieve the average citizen of the need to own or carry a gun in order to protect themselves from crime, and it is the role of the police to enforce the laws that enable all of our other city services, commerce, and general well being to flourish.
The proposed changes in Amendment 2 are chaotic and divisive. They are chaotic because there is not a plan for what a Public Safety Department would look like or do, and a sate law requires the amendment to be implemented in 30 days. Currently that would mean implementation without a plan, or even a known plan for a plan. It is divisive because it was made without citywide engagement and input from all of our diverse communities. We need to first follow the law passed by City Council in the summer of 2020 (and ignored) to hold citywide conversations on policing and public safety to discern what the aim of system change would be, what kinds of changes there is consensus around, and then develop a concrete plan from there.
I would like for our public safety system to include enough officers to not only respond to our crisis calls with the response times that keep us safe, but that also allow for community relationship-building, and constant training on the multitude of complex issues that officers encounter everyday. I would like for our public safety system to be more holistic with collaborative partnerships with police officers, mental health and drug addiction specialists, as well as cultural organizations. I would like for our public safety system to have much better accountability systems that do not tolerate abuse of power. And I would like for our public safety system to take the oath of service written by Chief Arradondo seriously by creating restorative justice pathways to help our officers stay committed to his vision of service guided by compassion and a respect for the dignity of all.
I lived in South Africa in the 1990s to learn about the truth and reconciliation commissions and trained in international peace and conflict resolution. Most recently I have trained in restorative justice facilitation. The through line between these two parts of my life is a passionate belief that we must learn to heal community trauma and rebuild institutions to stop harm. This is why real police reform -- not defunding or abolishing police -- will be a top priority. Another priority is to mobilize mass action on climate change with a Community Climate Corps, and as a continuation of my training in environmental law take seriously our responsibilities to serve as stewards of our urban natural environment through development policy. Finally, our small businesses are at the heart of our community -- they are those "third spaces" that unite us and connect us beyond our differences. As someone who has owned a small retail business and started a small business association, protecting, supporting, and growing our small business sector will also be a priority. Finally, we are in an affordable housing crisis and need innovative / regional / collaborative solutions, as well as a focus on closing the racial homeownership gap that is a foundational gap anchoring all the others.
City council member is the first level of representative democracy, the one closest to the communities and neighborhoods, and thus vital in determining what kind of democracy we have. Will it be an empowering form of democracy where people have meaningful input into government functions that directly impact them? Or will it be a democracy where decisions are made by others with engagement coming every few years in the form of a ballot?
My modern day heroes are Nelson Mandela, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Elizabeth Warren -- these are three people, trained as lawyers, who transform radical social critique into creative reform.
Honesty, transparency, compassion, and competency are the most important characteristics for elected office. I would combine this with a belief in the principles of integrity, equality, and cooperation.
I genuinely enjoy and like people, feel compelled to help solve problems, can analyze a situation from many different angles and disciplinary fields, and innovate within practical perimeters to find creative ways forward. I want to put particular emphasis on the first of these qualities because serving in public office is hard. An elected representative hears from people in anger and pain. I believe the best representatives stay centered in that storm by staying compassionate, and by finding ways to connect to people even when they disagree.
The core responsibilities for someone elected to city council is to be constantly present in the communities you serve, responsive to questions and concerns, and to be always working towards practical solutions to meet those needs. It is then the responsibility of a council member to be open and innovative, as well as collaborative in order to create the consensus needed to not only push the solution through but to do so in a way that unifies rather than divides the electorate. It is the responsibility of a council member to prove oversight into the city departments to ensure that the laws and policies in place are followed, and that our city's essential services are being met. Finally, it is the responsibility of a council member to serve as a positive role model for compassion and good faith, as well as tenacity in hard times so that members of the community can move forward together rather than splinter apart.
When I leave office I would like our ward and city to have engagement and input processes they trust because they are included earlier, more often, and more meaningfully in the city projects and policies that impact their lives. This lack of meaningful impact is currently felt across the board from policing to road reconstruction and will require a paradigm shift at City Hall that centers community.
The first historical event that directly impacted me was the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City my senior year in high school. I lived 20 miles south of the state capitol where so many in our community commuted. Our classmate's father was a federal judge who was killed in the bombing. That was an intense moment of communal suffering and grief. For weeks and weeks you would just find people crying, and it would be okay to put an arm around them or put a hand on a shoulder. There was something very powerful and unifying about grieving together, and in a way it was hard for us to move on because as we moved on we had to let go of the intensity of that bond too.
My first job was helping to care for my sisters in my single-parent home. I was in charge of picking up and dropping off at school, as well as many overnight "shifts" of preparing dinner, helping with homework, and putting them to bed. My first paid job was at restaurant, which I had for a short six months until my father overheard our stories of sexual harassment by an older male trainer, and said his 16-year-old daughter was never going back there (while he also worked to have that person fired).
This is an impossible question -- I have favorite books for different moments in my life. The two that come to mind right now are "Life After Life" by Kate Atkinson and "Deacon King Kong" by James McBride. How did Atkinson create this novel that includes a series of starts and stops by the same character and do so in a way that kept the thread? I have always been fascinated by the idea of "what if" and was affected by the depth of insight into the essential questions of what it means to be human. Similarly, I was completely dumbfounded by how McBride could create this novel that is a perfect balance of comedy, tragedy, and beauty. I have never encountered a narrative that captured the complexity of community, especially in the American context, in such a profound and true way.
I suppose if I could be any fictional character I would be Agatha Christie's Miss Marple who is constantly traveling to interesting places, is universally trusted and liked, and never gets bested.
The American work life is very imbalanced and makes it hard -- especially for women -- to be present and care for their children, elderly loved ones, and partners without sacrificing career achievement or sanity. My chosen career -- higher education -- has been defunded to the point that full-time positions are hard to come by without an extraordinary amount of sacrifice. I have no regrets in my choice to step away from that in order to put my family and emotional well being first but stepping off the achievement wheel was more difficult than anticipated and can only be described as a kind of grief. Learning to value myself outside achievement was a real struggle for me -- but has made me more resilient, more confident, and more compassionate.
In our current system little is known about who and how our city departments are actually managed since this power is shared by the mayor. In fact, people assume the mayor has more control over things even like policing than he does when the most powerful city body is likely the executive council: one mayor, and four city council members who create the city's strategic plans for each department as well as have authority over the negotiations with our public unions. Another power that has been overlooked is a Council member's ability to appoint members to carious commissions and long-range planning committees. I would like for there to be much more transparency about these positions and appointments, as well as more clarity about their roles and powers.
No. I believe it is beneficial for holders of this office to have relevant skills to governing -- collaboration, legal analysis, communication, accountability, responsiveness, and consensus-building. I also think it is beneficial for office holders to have had meaningful and sustained active participation in their communities and neighborhoods.
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Campaign website
Click here to view an archived version of Gibson's campaign website.
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