Kevin Reich

This page was current at the end of the official's last term in office covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Kevin Reich

Nonpartisan

Prior offices:

Minneapolis City Council Ward 1

Years in office: 2010 - 2022

Successor: Elliott Payne (Nonpartisan)

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Elections and appointments

Last election

November 2, 2021

Education

High school

Edison High School

Bachelor's

St. Olaf College

Other

Hamline University

Personal

Profession

Project director

Contact

Campaign website

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Personal LinkedIn

Kevin Reich was a member of the Minneapolis City Council in Minnesota, representing Ward 1. He assumed office in 2010. He left office on January 3, 2022.

Reich (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Minneapolis City Council to represent Ward 1 in Minnesota. He lost in the general election on November 2, 2021.

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.

Biography

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Reich earned a B.A. in philosophy and Asian studies from St. Olaf College and completed graduate coursework in public administration at Hamline University.

Reich's experience includes work as the project director of the Holland Neighborhood Improvement Association and service as a founding board member and site planning project chair for the Eastside Food Co-op, a board cochair and community land use and planning committee chair for Windom Park Citizens in Action, and a board member for the Edison Community and Sports Foundation.

Elections

2021

See also: City elections in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2021)

General election

General election for Minneapolis City Council Ward 1

Select round: Round 2 Round 1

The ranked-choice voting election was won by Elliott Payne in round 2 . 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.

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Elliott Payne	52.5	5,745	234	Won (2)
		Kevin Reich	47.5	5,191	288	2
	Submit photo	Calvin Carpenter	0.0	0	-638	1
	Submit photo	Thomas Wortman	0.0	0	-363	1

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Elliott Payne	48.2	5,511	0	Won (2)
		Kevin Reich	42.9	4,903	0	2
	Submit photo	Calvin Carpenter	5.6	638	0	1
	Submit photo	Thomas Wortman	3.2	363	0	1
		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.	0.2	23	0

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,438
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

2017

See also: Municipal elections in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2017) and Mayoral election in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2017)

Minneapolis, Minnesota, held a general election for mayor, all 13 seats on the city council, both elected members of the board of estimate and taxation, and all nine members of the park and recreation board on November 7, 2017. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was August 15, 2017.

Incumbents ran for re-election to all but two of the city council seats. Ward 3 Councilman Jacob Frey filed to run for mayor instead, and Ward 8 Councilwoman Elizabeth Glidden opted not to run for re-election.

Minneapolis City Council Ward 1, 2017, Round 2
Candidate	Vote %	Votes	Transfer
Kevin Reich (i) - Winner	51.1%	4,296	281
Jillia Pessenda	48.9%	4,112	266
John Hayden - Eliminated	0%	0	−853
Undeclared Write-ins - Eliminated	0%	0	−20
Exhausted		326	326
Total Votes		8,734	0
Note: Negative numbers in the transfer total are due to exhaustion by overvotes.

Legend:     Eliminated in current round     Most votes     Lost

This is the first round of voting. To view subsequent rounds, click the [show] button next to that round.

Minneapolis City Council Ward 1, 2017, Round 1
Candidate	Vote %	Votes	Transfer
Kevin Reich (i) - Most votes	46%	4,015
Jillia Pessenda	44%	3,846
John Hayden	9.8%	853
Undeclared Write-ins	0.2%	20
Exhausted		0	0
Total Votes		8,734	0
Note: Negative numbers in the transfer total are due to exhaustion by overvotes.

Campaign themes

2021

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Kevin Reich did not complete Ballotpedia's 2021 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign website

• Click here to view an archived version of Reich's campaign website.

2017

Reich's campaign website listed the following priorities:

“	1. Our Community, Our Environment I started my professional life in northeast Minneapolis as an environmental activist, not because of a class I took, or because it would look good on my resume, but because my neighborhood was choking on pollution. Every day it’s clear to me that cleaning up our local environment is a social justice issue. For example, the Mississippi River is one of Ward One’s greatest amenities. I remember when it was an embarrassment, a toxic dump. But we’ve worked hard as a community to treat it well, to clean it up, to improve access to it, and to celebrate it. 2. Housing A safe place to live is a basic human right. I believe that a responsible community makes sure that all its members not only have decent shelter, but a place to call home. I'm proud that I've worked with neighbors and stakeholders throughout our community to bring quality, affordable housing projects to Ward 1 for over 15 years... 3. Complete Streets During the 20th century, the transportation systems in our city were planned and built in support of motor vehicles. Oftentimes this has been to the detriment of those who rely upon public transit, walking, and cycling. As a 21st century city, Minneapolis strives to do better – to be more environmentally sustainable and to understand that its success is reliant upon ALL its people being able to get around easily – and we have shifted toward an emphasis on 'multi-modality' in transportation planning. This has resulted in the development of our new Complete Streets Policy. 4. Investing in our Future Growing up on the Eastside attending Minneapolis Public Schools, I realized early on that it's up to the entire community to make sure our teachers have the resources they need so our students have the opportunities they deserve. Education has been a top priority for me throughout my entire life in public service because of that experience. Strong communities mean strong schools and strong schools mean strong communities. 5. Public Safety and Police Accountability Mistrust of our police department is unacceptable and untenable, but we cannot get paralyzed by the problem: we need results. I've supported every thoughtful reform that was brought forward to re-envision our police department. More must be done, and reforms that aren’t fully implemented are meaningless. We need a culture change and system of effective accountability and transparency. 6. Budgeting and values Most people who are into politics like to talk about values. Values are at the core of why we do what we do, why we work for what we work for. Budgets and fiscal policy, on the other hand, are not so exciting. But budgets are where we put our values into action. From where we get our funding to where we spend it, there is no more important way for the City to express its values than through its budget. 7. Fighting for Equity Conversations about equity are perhaps the most important we are having today, as a community and as a society. For progressives, every day brings a new fight to uncover and remedy consequences of generations of inequitable policy and action. There are many things the City does that on their face seem to have little to do with equity, but are part of an ongoing effort to correct the systemic racism inherent in our history as a city and as a country. One of the challenges is to conquer the discomfort we all feel when we talk about race. But we can’t overcome hundreds of years of institutionalized racial inequality until we can identify it, name it, and discuss ways to correct it. 8. Sustainable Growth The key to our shared success has not been a focus on profit or corporate growth, but rather on community-based, sustainable economics. Places with a high density of locally owned businesses experience higher income, employment growth and less poverty - and locally owned businesses encourage residents to put down roots, furthering social and civic engagement. We must continue to encourage people in our community start and maintain local, independent, thriving businesses that serve our community – keeping the dollars circulating within our local economy. 9. Bikes & Transportation Kevin Reich believes that good local transit is an essential element of a safe, healthy, attractive, and livable city. Public transit needs to be an efficient, reliable and appealing option for all people, not just a last option for those who have no other choice. In addition, walking and bicycling must be promoted as healthy and safe options for the able-bodied... 10. Arts Advocacy Northeast Minneapolis is the City's Arts District. We must ensure opportunity for all people to have access to the Arts and work for a vibrant, diverse, and economically healthy Arts District.	”
—Kevin Reich's campaign website, (2017)

Endorsements

2017

Reich received endorsements from the following in 2017:

• Minneapolis Star Tribune
• AFL-CIO-Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation
• The International Alliance of Stage Employees and Studio Mechanics Local 490
• International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49
• Minneapolis Building and Construction Trades Council
• Minneapolis Firefighters Local 82
• SEIU Minnesota State Council
• Teamsters Joint Council 32
• UNITE HERE!
• Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton
• Former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak

See also

2021 Elections

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Candidate

Minneapolis City Council Ward 1

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	Minneapolis City Council Ward 1 2009-2022	Succeeded by Elliott Payne