Minneapolis City Council Member Emily Koski (Ward 11) is prioritizing city council teamwork, public safety, economic growth and housing opportunities in her 2025 mayoral campaign.
Koski has lived in Minneapolis her entire life and was first elected to the City Council in 2021. She announced her campaign to run for mayor in December 2024 with priorities to advance police reform, increase transitional housing and improve the economy, especially focusing on downtown and uptown areas.
Koski is challenging incumbent Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey who is seeking his third term. Other challengers in the race are Sen. Omar Fateh (DFL-Minneapolis) and Rev. DeWayne Davis, among others.
Minnesota Daily: What inspired you to run for mayor of Minneapolis?
Koski: “I’ve lived in Minneapolis my whole life. I grew up in northeast Minneapolis and this is where my husband and I met. I worked for Target Corporation. That was my first job out of college, and this is where we decided to raise our family. I love the city. I then became a council member and had this opportunity to represent our residents in that way. We’re in a moment at a crossroads in the city, and I feel like there’s just been so much divisiveness and disconnection. And I really want to make sure that we give Minneapolitans an opportunity to have a leader who will want to pull people together and work across our differences and really make sure that we’re taking action.”
Daily: How do you think being a city council member for over three years prepared you to run for Mayor?
Koski: “I have a front-row seat in this current administration. I understand what it is like in our new government structure. In 2021, we voted to have a new government structure and it’s the only government structure that I know and I’ve been on the legislative side. People coined it as the strong mayor system but, in order for a strong mayor system to work, we need a strong leader that can work across and think about the council members as partners. That’s the type of leader that I am even when I don’t agree, maybe, with everything that they might think or say. We know that we can build together and build consensus and then take action but that really means thinking about building trust and reconnection.”
Daily: For a significant part of your City Council member career you voted in line with Mayor Jacob Frey’s opinions, but within the last year that has changed. Was this a shift in your opinions?
Koski: “The culture that the Mayor has created is this ‘us versus them’ mentality and that isn’t serving our residents. People are thinking that we have to be on one side or the other, but the reality is I’m team Minneapolis. I think about what’s good for Ward 11 and what do Ward 11 residents want and then what’s good for our city. I work with a diverse group of council members because they represent a diverse city. That is our strength. It isn’t something that we should think that we need to be against. When you think about it too, my colleagues on the council who are bringing forward the work and who are actually bringing forward legislation and they’re coming to me and asking me for my opinion, they’re asking me to help make it better. I’m offering that. That’s all work that goes on behind the scenes. It’s not about being against Jacob Fry. It’s about being for the city of Minneapolis.”
Daily: What would be your main priorities as Mayor of Minneapolis?
Koski: “The overall vision is to strengthen Minneapolis for our future generations. How do we get there? It starts with culture change in City Hall that’s centered on efficiency, transparency and accountability to the public. What I mean by that is I have come in as a council member and we don’t have a performance management system in the city. So, I will make sure to implement that.
“Once we establish some of those baseline foundations as a team, then yes, we absolutely need to be investing in a comprehensive public safety plan for all residents. We need to make sure that we’re reducing violent and non-violent crime.
“We need to really think about how we are going to work collaboratively with the county and the state to tackle and support our unhoused. There isn’t one person that is saying, ‘I’m going to be the project manager and the coordinator of all the work that we’re doing.’ We’re going to set these goals together. We’re really going to think about how we’re going to be more efficient and effective.
“We really need to think about how are we going to bring uptown back. You think about downtown. That’s where I had my first job. How do we think about Minneapolis being a multi-generational city? Downtown has been historically like the 9-to-5 type, but I stayed home with my kids for a while. We stay at-home-parents, we’ll drive anywhere to bring our kids to something cool. How do we explore what we can be doing to make downtown Minneapolis more family-friendly? But that goes back to also making sure it’s safe.”
Daily: Is there anything else you would like to share?
Koski: “I can feel it with my community members and all the conversations that I’ve had is that we’re ready for a reset. We’re ready to come back into the Minneapolis that we love and we know. It really starts with the community being able to connect and feel connected to one another. I’m excited to do that.”
This interview has been edited for length, clarity and style.
