Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Nick Nguyen (Savage City Council, Minnesota, candidate 2024)
From Ballotpedia
Nick Nguyen ran for election to the Savage City Council in Minnesota. He was on the ballot in the general election on November 5, 2024.[source]
Nguyen completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
[1]Biography
Nick Nguyen provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on October 10, 2024:
- Birth place: Edina, Minnesota
- High school: Jefferson High School
- Gender: Male
- Profession: Researcher
- Incumbent officeholder: No
- Campaign slogan: Get It Done With Nick!
- Campaign website
- Campaign Facebook
- Campaign Instagram
Elections
General election
General election for Savage City Council (2 seats)
Megan G. Bergstrom, Joshua Fiedler, Matthew Johnson, Nick Nguyen, and Faisal Suleiman ran in the general election for Savage City Council on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | ||
| Megan G. Bergstrom (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Joshua Fiedler (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Matthew Johnson (Nonpartisan) | ||
 | Nick Nguyen (Nonpartisan)  | |
 | Faisal Suleiman (Nonpartisan) | |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
Election results
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Nguyen in this election.
Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Nick Nguyen completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Nguyen's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
Born to immigrant families from Vietnam and raised in Savage, Minn., Nick is the product of an American Dream success story. Nick attended Jefferson High School, in Bloomington, Minn., before attending Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. While attending Carleton, Nick worked for Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, where his passion for helping Minnesotans began.
Raised by two parents who fled Vietnam, Nick has lived his whole life in our vibrant Savage community. As such, he saw the development of Savage from a exurb, with farming and agriculture, to one of Minnesota’s best suburban communities. For Nick, what makes Savage’s development remarkable is that Savage’s development did not come without the loss of character that other communities have experienced. Instead, Savage grew into a suburb that has a small community feel– and Nick is vying to fight to keep Savage growing and progressing that way.
- Our parks and trails are often seen as our most valuable city-owned assets, and that is not a coincidence. Whether you’re teaching your child to ride their bike for the first time or you’re a mountain biking enthusiast like myself (I recommend you check out Murphy-Hanrehan Park Reserve if that’s the case), our parks and trails provide a positive experience for all members of the Savage community. That’s why it’s so vital that we keep our trails smooth so that they are a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone to use and we explore our options of expanding the trail network. On the top of my consideration now would be the use of the Dan Patch Line Bridge to connect the communities of Savage and Bloomington.
- Cutting your property taxes while maintaining, and ideally adding, to the city’s budget through other financial streams is challenging, but not impossible. Taxes provide our city with the necessary financial resources to provide the services we need in our city. But as our cost of living has gone up, it’s now more important than ever to find ways to bring down your property taxes while maintaining essential city services through other revenue streams, such as federal and state grants.
- Savage is reaching the stage where we physically cannot expand anymore, in other words, we can’t build out anymore. So we’ve got to build within our confines, and do it right. Walkable communities allows us to build reasonably-priced housing while providing the space for small businesses to move in. This continues Savage’s spirit, a city that maintains that “small town” feeling, contributing to a city with character and charm that is safe and vibrant. Walkability allows us to be greener as a city too, as it reduces vehicle use and encourages use of public transit. These reasons, and many more, are why I support building walkable communities in Savage, and why I encourage the building of these types of developments in downtown.
As a child, Nick’s parents instilled upon him the importance of community and helping back as much as you possibly can. That’s why in 5th grade he answered the call to give back to his community, serving as a volunteer tennis coach until the end of his high school career. In college, he continued to serve Minnesotans, working for Senator Amy Klobuchar in Minneapolis and Senator Tina Smith in Washington, D.C., where he processed Minnesotans’ problems with federal agencies and ensured Minnesotans’ voices were heard in the legislative process. Nick proudly, to this day, volunteers at food banks in his community.
Listening and delivering for residents is the most important principle of being an elected official. It’s no surprise that many public officials are enthusiastic about running for office because of the notoriety gained by being a politician and it’s unfortunate that some have taken up the mantle of serving their residents to gain attention, and it’s why politics and government can seem ineffective at times unfortunately. That’s exactly why I decided to run for Savage City Council, as I believe everyone running for council ultimately does it for this community we are all proud of. But our city for sure can do one thing better– and it is to reach out to our residents. Whether you vote for me or not, if you are a Savage resident, I promise that I will reach out to you as councilman so that I can understand the problems you are facing as a resident and how to best meet your needs.
Working for our Senators, I looked up to them to demonstrate leadership and bipartisanship to deliver bills and legislative successes for Minnesotans. Senator Klobuchar's bipartisanship, working for instance, with her Republican colleagues to deliver successes for our farmers was profoundly impactful to me and is of great inspiration to me. As city councilman, while we fortunately do not have to deal with such partisanship on the city council, there are often disagreements on fiscal spending, property taxes, and other hot-button city issues. Serving as a liaison or bridge seeking to find common ground and common sense solutions to our problems while standing my ground for what our residents want would be of priority to me.
Serving in the Senate also allowed me to gain valuable connections to folks who may help up with getting more fiscal assistance to our city. This may allow us to receive more federal grants for our city, especially during the appropriations process, and hopefully, pass that along to the property taxpayer.
Serving in the Senate also allowed me to gain valuable connections to folks who may help up with getting more fiscal assistance to our city. This may allow us to receive more federal grants for our city, especially during the appropriations process, and hopefully, pass that along to the property taxpayer.
One summer, after volunteer-coaching for years, I got my first job coaching tennis professionally for InnerCity Tennis for a summer. Teaching tennis, especially to underserved communities in Minneapolis, taught me a lot about how community involvement and nonprofits can bring light to our communities. It also sparked in me the notion that I could be involved and try to help my community, regardless of the positions I am serving under.
Some may be surprised that the Savage City Council approves developments and zoning regulations in our city. Today, Savage faces a pivotal moment in our town’s development today. As we near the building out of our town, now is the moment to plan ahead to build an inclusive, safe, and walkable Savage of tomorrow. Walkable communities allows us to build reasonably-priced housing while providing the space for small businesses to move in. This continues Savage’s spirit, a city that maintains that “small town” feeling, contributing to a city with character and charm that is safe and vibrant. Walkability allows us to be greener as a city too, as it reduces vehicle use and encourages use of public transit. These reasons, and many more, are why I support building walkable communities in Savage, and why I encourage the building of these types of developments in downtown. Revitalizing our downtown is one thing that is near and dear to every Savage resident, and a great place to start is by building an area you’d like to take a stroll in during a summer afternoon.
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.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
