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Tom Anderson was born in Brainerd, Minnesota. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities in 2010 and a master's degree from the University of Minnesota in 2014. His professional experience includes working as director of government relations for Students United, managing Black Sheep Pizza, and teaching Minnesota history and global studies. Anderson also served as a student council advisor and as a middle school coach for football, basketball, and track.[2]
General election for Minneapolis City Council Ward 2
The ranked-choice voting election was won by Robin Wonsley 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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Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source
Total votes: 9,527
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
Tom Anderson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Anderson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
I was raised in Northern Minnesota by my dad who was a small business owner and my mom who was a teacher. I moved to Minneapolis to attend the University of Minnesota, where I met my wife, Ellie! We moved to Ward 2 ten years ago and have since had two boys. I’ve loved being an active community member, having previously served as the Outreach and Inclusion Officer for the Senate District 63 DFL and on the Longfellow Community Council board of directors. I’m currently serving as a member of the “World’s Best Workforce” Equity Advisory Committee for Minneapolis Public Schools, and the co-chair of the LCC Neighborhood Development and Transportation Committee. After college, I managed Black Sheep Pizza in the North Loop before returning to the University of Minnesota to earn my master’s degree in education. I taught Minnesota History and Global Studies for five years and served as an elected teachers’ union representative, student council advisor, and the middle school football, basketball, and track coach. I’m now the Director of Government Relations for Students United, a 501c3 nonprofit and student coalition that advocates for higher education policies for the 50,000+ Minnesota State university students across our state.
I believe our approach to leadership is important in removing barriers to creating comprehensive, progressive policy changes and that our work needs to be interdisciplinary, collaborative, and inclusive.
Responsive leadership and continually fostering a connection to my community is a pillar of my leadership philosophy. I can’t make the best decisions for our city without including the people I would represent if elected.
It’s important to me to not alienate someone I disagree with. People’s lived experiences inform their perspective and I believe in seeking to understand people. The diversity in our communities is a strength our city has and we need to come together to learn about how our systems have affected people and find the best solutions to solving our collective issues as a city.
We need to revitalize the East Lake Street corridor that is home to amazing local businesses that have been devastated by the ongoing pandemic and the destruction following the murder of George Floyd. That should be priority number 1 in Ward 2. We also have significant infrastructure issues along Franklin Ave that need to be addressed.
Minneapolis has made strides in recent years at being more environmentally friendly, but there’s still plenty of work that lies ahead of us. I believe in investing in grants for energy efficiency improvements for local businesses and city departments through solar energy, lighting retrofits, and energy-efficient equipment, and push for inclusive financing so that everyone can access the energy-saving improvements they need. We also need to target vacant and unproductive properties for conversion to non-profit community food production and distribution centers, or locally-owned sustainability-based businesses.
Shifting to green energy and investing in sustainability will create jobs and expand the green workforce. We need to support unionized workforce development by investing in job training to provide more employment opportunities to low-income residents and help people escape poverty.
To create the equitable, sustainable, and clean city we desire, it’ll take strong partnerships with our DFL allies at the state and federal level, in addition to listening to—and working with—community organizations and energy providers to implement the best solutions.
Additionally, race has been proven to be the most important factor in determining where polluting industries are located. In fact, 6/7 of the trash incinerators in Minnesota are located in BIPOC and low-income communities. This has directly led to health impacts and other disparities for BIPOC communities. This is why an environmental justice approach to sustainability and clean energy is crucial as we move our city forward toward 100% renewable energy by 2030 and complete carbon neutrality by 2050. To do this, we need to engage our communities in the process of creating green infrastructure across our city.
I support the Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision to allow the people of Minneapolis to decide the future of policing in our city. Whether the voters decide to replace the Minneapolis Police Department or not, we need to create a detailed, comprehensive plan for what comes next. We need a system of public safety in our city that is rooted in empathy, community, and service. The city council has had over a year to create a comprehensive plan for what comes next, but due to hyperpolarization and ineffective governance, we are at a standstill. To move our city forward, it will take leaders who understand that compromise and collaboration are strengths, not weaknesses. I disagree with the council’s approach and believe we need to have comprehensive plans before making drastic policy changes that could have an adverse effect if it does not go well. We have a long road ahead of us, but I’m optimistic that the people across our city will come together to create a better future for everyone.
Minneapolis has a unique opportunity to create an entirely new blueprint for what public safety is. I believe we need to decentralize the police, invest in alternative emergency response for non-violent instances such as mental health professionals and social workers, and deeply invest in crime prevention. I also believe we need the traditional police officer role, but that this role needs to have more oversight, in addition to a number of other drastic changes to ensure they’re serving without bias and that we’re eliminating police violence at all costs. The number of traditional police officers should be determined by need, as should the number of social workers, housing providers, and transit workers. We should use our resources in the most efficient way possible, using disaggregated data to create effective policy around policing, housing, transit, and other city services.
Additionally, public safety is more than just police officers and social workers. We need to expand access to education and economic opportunity. We need to invest in our communities to provide pathways out of poverty. Programs like Stable Homes Stable Schools are just the beginning, and we should be working with our schools and communities to support our children so that we can finally end the cycle of desperation and violence that has plagued our city for far too long.
If elected, I want to work with city workers at all levels and bring them together with community members who have been the most harmed, community organizations and activists, and public safety experts, so that we can all collaborate in solving this problem together. We all share the same goal, which is eliminating the racism that has plagued our public safety for far too long and ending police violence against BIPOC people.
As a former teacher and teachers union representative, and current higher education advocate, education is something I’ve dedicated my life to. Minnesota has one of the worst achievement gaps in the U.S. and as a teacher, I’ve seen firsthand how intersecting disparities that marginalize and oppress BIPOC students directly impact their performance in the classroom. We can and must do better, which is why I believe we need full-service community schools, which will provide social and health services and remove barriers to basic needs, and why I also believe in establishing a Minneapolis College Promise Program that will guarantee two years of tuition-free post-secondary education to Minneapolis students.
I’m passionate about eliminating racism in our city systems that have been perpetuated for far too long, namely our system of public safety, but also all the other ways systemic racism creates unequal access to opportunity for our BIPOC neighbors. Our community is rightfully enraged by the lack of justice for Black and Indigenous residents, people of color, and other marginalized groups. From using police to stop runaway slaves to police brutality in the civil rights movement to the murder of George Floyd, it is clear that our system of policing needs deep systemic change to overcome the racism, marginalization, and violence that has plagued our communities for far too long.
Municipal government is more closely connected to people’s day-to-day lives than any other level of government. Being a city council member is an extremely important responsibility and is one that I will not take lightly if elected.
The person I look up to the most is my dad and his commitment to community and family. As a relatively new father and someone who has always enjoyed being active in the community, his model of balancing these two important aspects of life is something I admire and try to be an example of in my everyday life.
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. I’m a progressive DFL member but have always appreciated Lincoln’s ability to bring people together from varying political perspectives. While that concept is relatively simple, it’s also uncommon in today’s political landscape, where political jabs and passive-aggressive tweets have become the norm in many ways. I hope to be a leader that brings people together and focuses on our collective goal of creating a better, safer, more inclusive, and just city for us all.
There’s no one way to define an elected official and I think it’s important that not all elected officials share the same strengths. Some characteristics that I believe are universal among good leaders, include: the ability to listen actively and having an eagerness to learn, having strong core values and having integrity when it comes time to defend them, and truly understanding that you, alone, cannot solve every problem and that leaning on others and being collaborative is important when working toward solutions.
Being an active listener is one of my greatest strengths that I think will make me a successful officeholder. When in a representative position, I believe being intentional in seeking out feedback from people with diverse perspectives throughout your constituency is important. As a former teachers union representative, LCC board member, and DFL member, there have been multiple occasions where not everyone agrees on the best path forward. I’ve learned a lot through having conversations with people I don’t agree with and how their perspectives were formed. In order to create progressive policy changes, we are going to need to change some people’s minds and we can’t do that through force or alienation, we need to seek to understand each other first.
My experience being a teacher is an important strength that I would certainly incorporate into my work if elected. Being able to absorb information, comprehend it, and explain it in a way that’s accessible to everyone can be an important tool when explaining policy proposals to neighbors across Ward 2 and the city
I believe the core responsibilities of city council members include actively listening and engaging with people in their community, collaborating with others to create sustainable, comprehensive policy plans, and prioritizing working with one another as council members to find the best solutions. If we can achieve this, I believe the path to creating progressive, tangible policy changes to make a direct, positive impact on our communities becomes a lot more accessible. The divisive culture at city hall has directly created more barriers to change than it has opened doors and I think fostering a new culture rooted in seeking to understand one another and being collaborative in finding the best solutions will be an important part of rebuilding our city so that Minneapolis can live up to its potential.
The idea of leaving a legacy feels self-serving. I believe in doing good, collaborative work to solve the problems our city is facing. I’d like to be part of a culture change at city hall that eliminates the divisive, political rhetoric, and fosters an inclusive, interdisciplinary work environment centered around service-based leadership.
I was 13 when the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 happened. This was at the age where I started to become interested in history and social studies and this was the first time I was old enough to recognize the gravity of a tragedy of this scale and how it may impact the world. In retrospect, I didn’t quite realize the ripple effect it would have and how it would inform public policy for decades.
My first job was working at the local grocery store my dad and his brother owned. Some of my earliest memories include stocking shelves, packing and carrying groceries, and keeping the place clean and welcoming for the community. I helped around the store as a kid before starting to work there as a teenager for four years. Unfortunately, the family business fell victim to big corporations and with the rise of commercial grocery shopping, the store inevitably had to close. My experience working with my dad at our family business is why I care so deeply about protecting our local businesses. They’re so much more than transactions, they care deeply about our collective community and provide so much vibrancy and service to our communities.
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama. While not perfect, I have so much admiration for President Obama, his approach to leadership, and the barriers he consistently worked to overcome as the first Black president in the U.S. I love how this book opened us up to the “why” behind who he is and what he believes, in addition to learning his thoughts on different aspects of American culture.
I would choose Ryder from Paw Patrol, not only because my 3-year-old loves the show, but because he’s a fun representative of the importance of serving your community.
The idea of leaving a legacy feels self-serving. I believe in doing good, collaborative work to solve the problems our city is facing. I’d like to be part of a culture change at city hall that eliminates the divisive, political rhetoric, and fosters an inclusive, interdisciplinary work environment centered around service-based leadership.
This experience can make your transition into an elected role easier, and what you’ve learned through your previous government and/or political experience are skills that are certainly useful. However, I don’t believe it should be perceived as a prerequisite for people running for office. The best representatives don’t always come from a background in government. I believe that people from all walks of life, with diverse experiences, can and should be included in government and politics.
While it’s important to understand the intersecting responsibilities of a city council member, I also think it’s important to not expect members to be an expert on all issues. Council members don’t have all the answers and we shouldn’t expect them to. What we should expect are leaders who are able to collaborate with others to find the best solutions and to lead with the values they were elected for. Important skills that I think are applicable to all types of leaders, include active listening and engaging with your community, being open and receptive to feedback and ideas, and being able to work collaboratively.
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Campaign website
Click here to view an archived version of Anderson's campaign website.
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