What Duluth Voters Need to Know About the 2023 Election

In the 2023 Municipal Elections, we have the power as voters to choose a local government who will secure our freedom to thrive– to provide stable housing, safe communities, and clean air and water. For too long, we’ve seen wealthy CEOs profit off our labor, pollute our communities, and price us out of our homes. When we unleash our power at the ballot box this Fall and keep organizing together, we can build a city where no matter our job, race, background or age, we can live and thrive right here in Duluth, the community we love.

Duluth City Council At Large

Who is Running for City Council At Large?

	Arik Forsman	Miranda Pacheco	Jenna Yeakle
DFL and TakeAction Minnesota endorsed	❌	✔	✔
Supports our freedom to safe, stable homes by standing with Duluth renters over corporate developers	❌	✔	✔
Supports our freedom to a bright future with clean air and clear water	❌	✔	✔

Why reject Arik Forsman for City Council

As a Council Member, Forsman has blocked Duluthians’ freedom to thrive by consistently choosing to put wealthy corporations over our lives and health.

• In Duluth, no matter how much money we make or the color of our skin, we deserve a safe place to call home. But while we experience a housing crisis, Forsman has talked more about parades and t-ball than making sure Duluthians have a roof over their heads. His campaign website doesn’t include a single mention of renters or affordable housing.*
• Instead of standing up for safe housing for renters in Duluth, Forsman voted against adding another housing inspector to help address the city’s backlog of 2,600 inspections.
• Instead of passing policies to protect our climate and ensure we have clean air and water, Forsman chose to push for a law to police cannabis use in ways that will disproportionately impact poor people, renters and people of color in Duluth. 
• Forsman has a track record of siding with corporate polluters. He supported PolyMet’s proposed toxic copper-sulfide mining project, which the EPA confirms threatens the water supply of the City of Duluth and Lake Superior watershed.
• Forsman has accepted campaign contributions from major polluters. And, he works for Minnesota Power, a corporate utility that’s one of the biggest roadblocks in the way of a carbon-free Duluth.
• Forsman regularly dismissed those raising concerns about sulfide mining as being “anti-industry.”  Forsman specifically dismissed community concerns about the well-documented effects of mercury poisoning on children’s brain development. This dismissal of science is dangerous to our health and a thriving future.
• Forsman’s commitment to serving on our City Council is unclear. Last year, he unsuccessfully ran for state legislature and then waffled on whether he’d run this cycle. We need leaders who are clear on the difference they want to make for our city. Duluthians rejected Forsman in last year’s state legislature primary, and this year, we’ll see through him again.

*As of September 2023

Why elect Miranda Pacheco and Jenna Yeakle to City Council

Miranda Pacheco and Jenna Yeakle have shown up for the people of Duluth and our freedom to thrive. They have a compelling vision for the city we deserve – one where people, clean air, and clean water come before corporate profits and all of us have what we need to make a good life no matter our race, gender, age, or job.

• Pacheco and Yeakle will fight for renters in our city. They support measures that ensure renters in Duluth can keep calling the city we love home. Liveable wages are a high priority for Pacheco, and Yeakle supports a range of policies for affordable housing, including rent stabilization.
• Pacheco and Yeakle will lead for a city that works for everyone – no exceptions. An enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Pacheco wants to address the ways leaders in our local government have chosen to exclude and marginalize Indigenous people and people of color. Yeakle represents the very best of us in Duluth, and knows that we must come together across race and place to make this a place where all of us can thrive.
• Pacheco is committed to addressing homelessness and Duluth’s housing crisis. She is a recovering addict and addiction counselor who has experienced homelessness, and she’s clear on the ways systems intended to support us are falling short.
• Yeakle is a long-time community organizer who has pushed for climate action in Duluth, including standing up to big corporations in the way of decarbonizing our city.

Duluth Mayor

Who is Running for Duluth mayor?

	Roger Reinert	Emily Larson
DFL and TakeAction Minnesota endorsed	❌	✔
Prioritizes our freedom to make a life for our families and future generations	❌	✔
Takes action for our freedom to a bright future with clean air and clear water	❌	✔
Supports our freedom to have a safe and secure place to call home	❌	✔
Supported by Trump Republicans	✔	❌

Why reject Roger Reinert for Duluth Mayor

Reinert has consistently shown that he will stand in the way of our freedom to thrive here in Duluth. Backed by MAGA Republicans with a track record of putting corporate profits over what people need, he is incapable of building a city where, across our races, places, and backgrounds, we all can thrive.

• During his time on City Council, Reinert voted AGAINST funding our freedom to have a safe and secure place to call home, ending the City’s contributions to a Housing Investment Fund that leveraged millions for affordable housing in Duluth.
• Reinert voted AGAINST city funding for an American Indian housing project that would have added 29 units of affordable housing downtown and an American Indian Center for programming benefitting Indigenous people and the broader Duluth community.
• Reinert accepted campaign contributions from a developer who took public funds for private profit, leaving more of us without homes. Dante Tomassoni is the COO of Development with P&R properties, which accepted public funds to build an apartment complex in Lincoln Park Craft District and then evicted tenants from two-dozen units of that complex to create a “boutique hotel” on the second floor, forcing tenants out with only 60 days notice.
• Reinert is focused on what wealthy corporations need to succeed in our city – not us, the people. Throughout his campaign, Reinert has lied about what our city needs to thrive and letting developers not pay what they owe in taxes instead of  ensuring everybody has a stable place to call home.
• Across Duluth, we are worth the freedom to a secure future, where our stormwater infrastructure is reliable and our skies are clear in the summer. This requires action to protect from extreme weather events. But Reinert doesn’t mention climate change as a priority on his campaign website.*
• Reinert is supported by MAGA Republicans who have blocked our freedom to have a say in local decisions, from when, if, and how to have a family to how we express our genders. He is supported by and receives campaign contributions from people who seek to divide us based on what we look like and our genders . Reinert does not want to build a city that works for – and is welcoming to – everyone, Black or white, native or newcomer, Asian or Latino. He dismisses serious immigration issues as “social issues,” and is opposed to Duluth as a sanctuary city for families, regardless of their immigration status.
• Time and time again, Roger has put profit over people. As a state senator, Reinert tried to stop a bill that would protect Minnesotans from predatory payday lenders.

*As of September 2023

Re-elect Emily Larson Duluth Mayor

Emily Larson is a proven leader for our city, and continues to have high ambitions for building a better Duluth, where we have the freedom to thrive and  where all residents feel seen, safe, heard, and valued, no matter our race, gender, job, or where we live. 

• Larson believes housing is a human right – and has acted on that value. She led on establishing an Affordable Housing Trust Fund in Duluth and invested a much needed $19 million directly into affordable housing for our city.
• We deserve to live in a city that is stable and resilient so we all can thrive – but fossil fuel CEOs and the politicians they pay for have created extreme weather events that are impacting our city more and more. It’s time to act for a stable and resilient future. Larson led on creating the city’s first-ever Climate Action Work Plan and put the city on a path to net-zero emissions by 2050. Duluth’s greenhouse gas emissions have dropped by 32% since Larson took office.
• All of us should be able to count on our infrastructure to keep us safe, from our roads to our faucets. and Larson has pushed policies to move Duluth closer to realizing that value. Larson established a dedicated Street Repair Fund that has increased the mileage of street repairs 850% since she took office. She’s pushed for state and federal funding to replace lead pipes delivering drinking water to our homes. She’s even invested in crisis response models that go beyond policing, including by making Duluth the first city in the nation to add a nurse as part of a co-response team.
• Larson has stood up for workers in our city, including by passing Earned Sick and Safe Time and requiring Project Labor Agreements for publicly-funded construction projects that set standards for wages, time off, and other worker protections. Larson’s work earned her the endorsements of Duluth area labor unions.

How to Vote

Get Ready to Vote

Vote by mail deadline: Oct. 24
Early voting: Sept. 22 – Nov. 6
Election day: Nov. 7

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This is an independent expenditure paid for by TakeAction Minnesota, 705 Raymond Ave #100, St. Paul, MN 55114. It is not coordinated with or approved by any candidate nor is any candidate responsible for it.

Questions? Email us.