Nick Kor

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Nick Kor

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 2, 2021

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Nick Kor (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Minneapolis City Council to represent Ward 7 in Minnesota. He lost in the general election on November 2, 2021.

Kor completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.

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

Kor was raised in the Twin Cities. In 2012, he joined the staff of Minnesotans United for All Families, a political organization that was the principal opponent of the Minnesota Same-Sex Marriage Amendment on the November 2012 general election ballot.

Kor later worked as an organizer with OutFront Minnesota and, in 2015, joined the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability. In 2016, Gov. Mark Dayton (D) appointed Kor as the Civic Engagement Director for the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

At the time of the 2021 elections, Kor worked as a senior manager of movement building at the Coalition of Asian American Leaders.

Elections

2021

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

General election

General election for Minneapolis City Council Ward 7

The ranked-choice voting election was won by Lisa Goodman in round 1 .

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Lisa Goodman	61.9	7,206	0	Won (1)
		Nick Kor	26.3	3,066	0	1
		Teqen Zéa-Aida	7.2	833	0	1
	Submit photo	Joanna Diaz	4.1	477	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.	0.5	57	0

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,639
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign themes

2021

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Nick Kor completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kor's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a coalition builder, a leader who listens, and have spent the last two years as a Bush Fellow. I grew up in the Twin Cities as the son of immigrants from Hong Kong and small business owners and I currently work as the Senior Manager of Movement Building at the Coalition of Asian American Leaders where I organize partners nation-wide to address racism and xenophobia.

In 2012, I was one of the first staff members hired for the Minnesotans United for all Families campaign that led to us securing the freedom to marry and later I organized with OutFront Minnesota to pass some of the strongest anti-bullying legislation in the nation. In 2015, I worked on racial and labor equity issues as the HIRE Minnesota Organizer for the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability. In 2016 I was appointed by Governor Dayton as the Civic Engagement Director for the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. I believe that my unique experience bringing people together to work towards our shared goals is the voice our Ward 7 needs in this moment.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• We need to transition to a system of public safety that is rooted in community

• Housing is a human right

• All of us deserve clean air, water and confidence in a stable future

Community Question Featured local question

How would you balance the needs and desires of existing business and housing communities with new development? Would you take gentrification and displacement into consideration when planning neighborhood development?

Minneapolis must be a place that welcomes everyone. Our first order of business must be to take care of BIPOC communities who have historically been displaced by rising housing costs and gentrification. This is why strong renter protections, preserving naturally occurring affordable housing and Tenant Opportunity to Purchase (TOPA) are so important. These tools can help prevent displacement and build wealth for low income communities that have not benefited equally from increasing home prices.

Minneapolis is growing faster than it has since 1950, and continues to build a record number of housing units. This is a good thing.
But as we build more housing, we need to ensure that we are building enough affordable and deeply affordable units in every part of the city to ensure that our neighbors can continue to live in our communities.

Part of that work will be supported through inclusionary zoning, but we cannot rely on that alone. As our tax base expands, the city must invest in deeply affordable housing, with increased contributions to our affordable housing trust fund.

Community Question Featured local question

What do you think about the city's environmental health? Would you make any changes to current policy?

I believe in order to meet our climate goals, we must prioritize renewable energy over oil and gas. This means addressing at least two major sectors in Minneapolis: housing and transportation.

First, we must be doing more to make our homes and businesses more energy efficient. I support inclusive financing as a tool for renters and low-income folks, and I also believe we need to increase the utility franchise fee to more deeply fund energy efficiency programs for those most in need.
Second, we need to prioritize the design of our neighborhoods and transportation systems to so that access to essential services is within a short distance to reducing carbon emission from our transportation infrastructure

Finally, our transition to a renewable energy economy must be equitable and create living wage jobs for a green workforce that provides opportunity for low-income and BIPOC residents in our community.

Community Question Featured local question

What role do you feel police should play in Minneapolis? What are your thoughts on the city council’s proposed changes to the Minneapolis Police Department?

I support Yes 4 Minneapolis and sit on the coalition’s steering committee as a representative from CAAL. I believe we need to create a more holistic system of public safety -- beyond only policing -- that is rooted in community and care. This means ensuring that people have their basic needs met -- access to deeply affordable housing, jobs, healthcare, and that our young people are supported.

Additionally, I believe we need to invest in proven, community-based violence prevention programs that provide culturally-relevant, holistic support to neighbors in need. Many of these programs already exist in our city but need greater investment.
We can also lessen the load on the police by moving unnecessary duties to other city departments and expanding 311 services. We currently see the police as the “catch all” of government. By transferring unnecessary duties to other departments, this would allow officers to focus their time and energy on addressing violence.

Lastly, we have to hold officers accountable and must be able to fire cops who do harm towards our communities. That means we need to renegotiate the police union contract, create better community control, and enforce systems of discipline for misconduct.

Community Question Featured local question

What would you like Minneapolis' public safety system to look like by the end of your term? What would you do to accomplish your vision of public safety?

I believe that we need new systems of public safety that are rooted in care and not criminalization. After the murder of George Floyd last year by the Minneapolis Police Department, a global uprising was birthed and the movement to change policing as we know it gained momentum across our country. Unfortunately, little substantive change has taken place with our police department and how we approach safety in Minneapolis. We owe it to George Floyd, to our residents and to our world to reimagine public safety and shift away from a police-only approach into an approach that is more holistic and comprehensive. Here’s how we get there:

1) We must invest in proven, community-based violence prevention programs that provide culturally-relevant, holistic support to neighbors in need. Many of these programs already exist in our city but need more investment and should be expanded.

2) We have to hold police officers accountable. We must end qualified immunity to be able to fire cops who do harm towards our communities and we need to renegotiate the police union contract, create better community control, and enforce systems of discipline for misconduct.

3) We can lessen the load on the police by moving unnecessary duties to other city departments and expanding 311 services. By transferring unnecessary duties to other departments, including pretextual stops, this would allow officers to focus their time and energy on responding to violence.

4) I believe we need to create a more holistic system of public safety -- beyond policing -- that is rooted in community and care. In order to do this, we must remove the charter requirement for the minimum level of police officers and establish a department of public safety with other types of first responders who will come to the aid of every resident with understanding and care and are best suited for the various needs of the community.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

One of my top priorities is to have safe neighborhoods for everyone. To me that starts with re-envisioning and rebuilding our systems of public safety by creating a new department of public safety and engaging the public in deep conversations about how we move beyond a police-only approach to safety.

Second, I believe housing is a human right and we have much work to do in order to make sure our neighbors aren’t being pushed out or priced out of their homes. That work includes strong renter protections, building and preserving deeply affordable units in our city, and investing in a community-centered housing ecosystem for our future by supporting things like community land trusts, public housing and cooperative housing initiatives.

Third, I believe that racial equity is an issue that needs immediate and serious attention. Building wealth for low-income residents and communities of color is critical. As an organizer, I know how to put this into practice. In 2015, as the HIRE Minnesota organizer for the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability I worked with contractors, unions, and government agencies during the construction of US Bank Stadium to address hiring disparities. We surpassed our 32 percent workforce hiring goal which led to an estimated $39 million in wages for workers of color. We must continue to ensure that our policies are aligned with our values.

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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 Kor's campaign website.

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Minneapolis City Council Ward 7

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