Emily Koski
2022 - Present
2026
3
Emily Koski is a member of the Minneapolis City Council in Minnesota, representing Ward 11. She assumed office on January 3, 2022. Her current term ends on January 5, 2026.
Koski ran for election for Mayor of Minneapolis in Minnesota. She will not appear on the ballot for the general election on November 4, 2025.
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]
Biography
Emily Koski was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of St. Thomas in 2001. Her professional experience includes working as a director of client development for Antenna. She previously owned and operated a Minneapolis-based small business for 13 years and worked as a business analyst at Target Corporation in Minneapolis.[2]
Elections
2025
See also: Mayoral election in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2025)
General election
The general election will occur on November 4, 2025.
General election for Mayor of Minneapolis
The following candidates are running in the general election for Mayor of Minneapolis on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | ||
 | Jacob Frey (Nonpartisan) | |
| Andrea Revel (For the People Party) | ||
| Troy Peterson (Momunist Party) | ||
| Kevin Ward (Nobody's Party) | ||
| Xavier Pauke (Protecting Tomorrow's Dreams) | ||
| Adam Terzich (Renaissance Party) | ||
| Kevin A. Dwire (Socialist Workers Party) | ||
| Charlie McCloud (Unaffiliated) | ||
| Alejandro Richardson (Unaffiliated) | ||
 | Laverne Turner (Unaffiliated) | |
| Jeffrey Wagner (Why Not Wagner) | ||
| DeWayne Davis (Nonpartisan) | ||
 | Omar Fateh (Nonpartisan) | |
 | Jazz Hampton (Nonpartisan) | |
 | Brenda Short (Nonpartisan) | |
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 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Emily Koski (Nonpartisan)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
2023
See also: City elections in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2023)
General election
General election for Minneapolis City Council Ward 11
The ranked-choice voting election was won by Emily Koski in round 1 .
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Total votes: 5,952 |
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
Endorsements
Koski received the following endorsements.
2021
See also: City elections in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2021)
General election
General election for Minneapolis City Council Ward 11
The ranked-choice voting election was won by Emily Koski in round 1 .
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Total votes: 13,354 |
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
Campaign themes
2025
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Emily Koski did not complete Ballotpedia's 2025 Candidate Connection survey.
2023
Emily Koski did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.
2021
Emily Koski completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Koski's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Public Safety: I believe in a both/and approach to reforming our public safety system. I believe we must take a comprehensive approach to reforming our public safety system; and, I believe this comprehensive approach must be a product of deep engagement with our community, inclusive conversations, strategic problem solving, and long-term planning. I believe we must reform our public safety system, by addressing structural and systemic racism, implementing deep structural change, and creating public safety alternatives beyond traditional policing; and, we must continue to perform the core components of our public safety system, which requires adequately staffing and funding the Minneapolis Police Department. I am a strong advocate for develo
Supporting Businesses: I believe the City of Minneapolis should designate a full-time Small Business Liaison within the City Coordinators Office to support locally owned small businesses, educate the small business community on available resources, and work with the small business community to address issues. I also believe the City of Minneapolis should make targeted financial investments into resources for locally owned small businesses, and ease the burden of property taxes, mandates, and other barriers to participate for locally owned small businesses, to create pathways for them to prosper. It’s worth mentioning that the COVID-19 pandemic has had disproportionately negative effects on the BIPOC community, as well as BIPOC, Latinx, Immi
Creating Affordable Housing: The City of Minneapolis is responsible for ensuring that the residents of Minneapolis have access to safe, adequate, affordable housing. I support the significant investments that the Mayor has included in his budgets, especially directing it towards deeply affordable housing, with 30% AMI or below, and towards collaborative work with the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. Further, I am supportive of the diversification of our housing sector to meet the needs of Minneapolis residents - this must include variation in size, type, affordability, and location of housing. In order to create these opportunities, we will need to find ways to incentivize production for neighborhood organizations, nonprofits, develope
We must take bold action, have unwavering commitment, and assess all policy through a climate centered lens. We must work to build an inclusive clean energy economy, implement sustainable and efficient energy practices, and educate our community on climate change.
I believe we must take a holistic approach to environmental sustainability and climate change. This means increasing community education and awareness on behavior changes that minimize the impact of climate change, providing support and resources to help the community adapt and adjust to changes in their community that are a product of climate change, and promoting and advocating for policies that address disparities that emerge as a product of our response to climate change.
I do not support the language in the Charter Amendment that states that the Department of Public Safety will “include licensed police officers if necessary”. While I believe we need to reform our public safety system, I believe our reformed public safety system must include police officers.
Additionally, I do not believe that having the Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety report to the Mayor and 13 City Council Members is an effective form of management, nor does it create clear lines of accountability.
If the Public Safety Charter Amendment passes, the current Minneapolis City Council, regardless of the results of the upcoming election, will be tasked with enacting a Department of Public Safety within 30 days before the Minneapolis Police Department will cease to exist. The current Minneapolis City Council has not created a comprehensive plan regarding how to enact the Department of Public Safety, or what the Department of Public Safety would look like.
I believe we must reform our public safety system, by addressing structural and systemic racism, implementing deep structural change, and creating public safety alternatives beyond traditional policing; and, we must continue to perform the core components of our public safety system, which requires adequately staffing and funding our Police Department.
As it stands, our Police Department is understaffed and is having difficulty retaining or recruiting staff. In order to effectively and efficiently perform the core components of our Public Safety System, we need a well staffed and adequately funded Police Department.
The City of Minneapolis is facing tremendous challenges - the COVID-19 Pandemic, public safety reform, and racial justice and equity - to name few. The decisions we make now will affect the future of the City of Minneapolis, and the livability of the entire metropolitan region.
As I have connected with Ward 11 residents, I have heard time and time again that while there is a general consensus that the City of Minneapolis is in need of public safety reform, we are also in need of a public safety system that includes licensed police officers to support the core functions of our public safety system.
Additionally, I have heard that a top concern of Ward 11 residents is COVID-19 recovery, and the economic viability of the City of Minneapolis. Our small businesses in Ward 11 have felt the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and are in need of support to recover and grow.
Ward 11 residents have shared with me that their primary concern is the type of leadership they are seeing on the current Minneapolis City Council.
Our community doesn’t just want a representative on the Minneapolis City Council, we want a voice on the Minneapolis City Council. It is my personal goal, as a candidate, and as a City Council Member - to have each member of this community seen and heard.
I will continue to immerse myself in our community, engage in open conversations, earn your trust, and bring your voices to the table. As your City Council Member, I will be focused on working with our community and being the leader that our community deserves.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Note: Community Questions were submitted by the public and chosen for inclusion by a volunteer advisory board. The chosen questions were modified by staff to adhere to Ballotpedia’s neutrality standards. To learn more about Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection Expansion Project, click here.
Campaign website
- Click here to view an archived version of Koski's campaign website.
See also
2025 Elections
External links
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Officeholder Minneapolis City Council Ward 11 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ City of Minneapolis, "Common questions about filing for office," accessed September 10, 2025
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 5, 2021
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Jeremy Schroeder |
Minneapolis City Council Ward 11 2022-Present |
Succeeded by - |
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