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Tracey Fussy (Golden Valley City Council Member, Minnesota, candidate 2025)
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Tracey Fussy ran for election to the Golden Valley City Council Member in Minnesota. She was on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025.[source]
Fussy completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
[1]Biography
Tracey Fussy provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on October 6, 2025:
- Birth date: December 9, 1974
- Birth place: Minneapolis, Minnesota
- High school: Troy Athens
- Bachelor's: Oakland University, 1998
- J.D.: University of Minnesota, 2001
- Gender: Female
- Religion: Catholic
- Profession: Attorney
- Incumbent officeholder: No
- Campaign slogan: Steady, Thoughtful, Reasonable
- Campaign website
- Campaign Facebook
Elections
General election
General election for Golden Valley City Council Member (2 seats)
The following candidates ran in the general election for Golden Valley City Council Member on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | ||
Aaron Black (Nonpartisan)  | ||
| Joanie Clausen (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Steve Dent (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Tracey Fussy (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Andy Johnson (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Jean Kidd (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Chris Queitzsch (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 Fussy in this election.
Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Tracey Fussy completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Fussy's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am a 15-year resident of Golden Valley. I’ve raised my family here and have sent my kids to Hopkins Schools, spent endless hours at the baseball fields and hockey rinks, and played at our amazing parks. I have been a trial attorney representing a neighboring city for over 19 years. In that capacity, I have worked with every department a city has and understand where things go wrong, how to improve and what the laws require. I know that government decisions are nuanced and require careful consideration and research. I have a passion for public service and believe I have a unique set of skills that will greatly benefit Golden Valley.
- I will prioritize proactively planning for the inevitable need to repair aging and obsolete infrastructure, including city buildings like the fire stations, as well as water, storm water and sewer upgrades. Planning ahead reduces costs and prevents service interruptions so that we can count on a well-run city.
- I will prioritize increasing the tax base through smart growth development. Smart growth increases the tax base by promoting higher-value, compact development within existing infrastructure, which boosts property values, reduces service costs, and attracts residents and businesses—leading to greater tax revenue without expanding city boundaries. A four-story building with housing and retail and restaurant space bring 10 times more tax revenue than a strip mall taking up the same footprint. That allows the city to pay its bills without relying on existing residential properties as much because more people/businesses are paying in.
- I am committed to carefully examining where our tax dollars are going to ensure they are being used wisely. I know the community wants more information and more easily accessible information from its government. I will encourage better practices to get the messages out to the public.
I am passionate about public safety and streamlining our zoning and land use regulations. I have spent 19 years working with police officers. I understand their job and what it truly means to support them: good policies, excellent training, mental health and wellness and setting clear expectations to follow. Zoning and land use laws designed to protect us can unduly stagnate growth and home improvement when applied in a one-size-fits-all manner.
The city council is a direct representative of the city residents as a whole. They set the budget, create the vision and goals for the city and appoint the city manager.
I look up to anyone who sticks up for the little guy even when it will come at a cost. When my son was in elementary school he stood up for a child who was being picked on because he had some issues. My son heard that some kids were planning on physically hurting that child with differences and stood between them and the child, at risk of being attacked himself. I think about that selfless bravery when I muster the courage to do the right thing. And I tell supervisors about it when counseling them to have hard conversations. Being brave isn’t having no fear. It’s having fear and doing it anyway.
Integrity is the cornerstone of a good elected official and should be the floor in terms of who is elected. Elected officials represent the entire city and must consider what is best for the entire city. Sometimes people won’t get what they want but elected officials must not be afraid to make big decisions and explain why they made the decision they did. Bad news does not get better with age but inaction can create a worse situation. Second, officials should give as much information as legally and ethically allowed. Third, officials must listen and carefully consider the nuances in every situation. While values do not change, applying values to a given fact situation is nuanced. Waiting until the facts are gathered before rendering a decision prevents knee-jerk reactions and poor results. Thinking several steps ahead also helps prevent poor results.
The core responsibility is to make the best decision they can with the information they have for the best result for the city. To fulfill that responsibility they must work hard, be prepared and be open to communication. The best decisions come from critical thinking and weighing and balancing the competing viewpoints and not being afraid to change your mind when new information becomes available.
A downtown. The city has no real connective gathering place to go to. I would like to spend my money in Golden Valley and have a wide variety of transportation methods to get there.
The Challenger explosion. My class was to watch the message from the astronauts after they were in space. Obviously that did not happen. I saw the video when I got home from school.
I was a car hop at an A&W drive-in for one summer after middle school. A car hop is essentially a waitress. I took orders and brought out food and drinks on trays to people’s cars. I did not roller skate- which really benefited all the patrons.
I read the Bernie Gunther series in 2024. I have always been interested in European history from 1850-1950. This series chronicles a detective in Berlin during the rise and fall of the Nazis. The setting is historical fiction and incorporates actual persons and battles in the stories. Tom Hanks mentioned it when being interviewed in a Smartless podcast, which I also recommend.
I’m happy with who I am. I like my family, friends, where I live and my job.
I have a hard time not taking on additional responsibilities. But I am happier when I am busy.
I think it is helpful. Having worked for a neighboring city in its legal department for over 19 years gives me a unique set of skills. I have worked with police, fire, public works, and zoning. I have handled ordinance challenges and employment lawsuits. This experience means I will come to the council knowing what city departments want to get their jobs done, what events and decisions cause liability and how to prevent liability in the future. I know how city government runs and how its employees fit into that equation.
An understanding of how governments work, an ability to think critically and work together as a body to get the work done.
As stated, city council is one of the only elected offices in city government. It is elected by the city constituents as a whole and is a reflection of the collective desires of the residents.
Carpenters Union, Ryan Winkler, Mike Freiberg
I thought I lived in Golden Valley a long time but I am meeting people who have lived here 40 years or more. They always have all the gossip of what happened in the neighborhood in the 1970s and what Golden Valley looked like then. Their institutional knowledge of every day life is priceless.
I put in a paver patio in my backyard a few years ago. I had to precisely measure and shovel out clay soil and lay the pavers. When I started excavating clay soil by hand I instantly regretted starting the project. Clay is so heavy and sticks together. It’s like scooping hard, frozen ice cream. It took me a week to complete the project and was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. I would be so physically exhausted and hungry that when I took a break I would eat like 5 bananas. But it still looks really nice and no pavers are sticking out.
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
2025 Elections
External links
Footnotes
