St. Paul has officially elected an all-women City Council, after the Ramsey County Election Office reallocated votes to Ward 1’s top vote-getter Anika Bowie, confirming her election on Friday afternoon. 

Bowie’s win got here hours after Cheniqua Johnson was declared the winner of the Ward 7 race, beating Pa Der Vang by 134 votes after one round of reallocation. Bowie and Johnson filed for the City Council race, alongside Saura Jost and Hwa Jeong Kim, in August. The 4 newcomers pledged their support for each other to bring in regards to the youngest, more diverse, and first all-female city council in St. Paul’s history. 

Jost received 49 percent of the vote in Ward 3 on election night, but declared victory after runner-up Isaac Russel conceded on Tuesday night. Kim won the Ward 5 race after receiving 52 percent of the vote in the primary round. Incumbents Mitra Jalali, Rebecca Noecker and Nelsie Yang all secured well over 50 percent of the votes in the primary round of the election, solidifying their wins. 

Since 2011, St. Paul has held ranked alternative voting with voters casting their vote for multiple candidates and rating them based on preference. A candidate must secure a majority of the first-choice votes to win in the primary round. If not, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their votes are reallocated to the voter’s second alternative. This process repeats for multiple rounds until a candidate receives 50 percent of the vote. 

Anika Bowie was joined by campaign staff and supporters Tuesday night on the Gnome Craft Pub as she secured 40 percent of the vote in an eight-way race with James Lo and Omar Syed trailing her, each receiving roughly 20 percent of the vote. 

Between greeting visitors and taking selfies with family members, Bowie checked in along with her campaign staff for any developments on the race. On Friday night, Bowie was capable of secure the Ward 1 race after beating Lo within the fifth round of reallocation. 

Rondo native representing Ward 1

Born and raised within the Rondo neighborhood, Bowie has referenced her family’s history within the neighborhood, which matches back generations, as to why she’s captivated with representing Ward 1. 

“I come from a family where we’ve made rather a lot out of a bit of,” Bowie said in an interview Tuesday. “With the ability of the people, we’re going to make sure that that Ward 1 is a voice for everyone. We’re going to maintain listening. We’re going to continue to learn, and we’re going to maintain inviting people to assist us lead on decisions.”

Bowie graduated from Central High School and went on to attend Hamline University, where she received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and corrections and social justice. She spent years within the areas of education and juvenile justice reform, which led her to serve because the Criminal Justice Reform co-chair on the Minneapolis chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People. Bowie also served as vice chairman for the Minneapolis NAACP. 

She also has experience in community organizing and campaigning as she led the campaign for the Minnesota Restore the Vote Coalition and was the political director for Keith Ellison’s campaign for attorney general. 

The Rondo native first ran for the Ward 1 seat in 2019, with the goal of bringing regular jobs and secure streets. 4 years later, Bowie continues to carry those self same goals as she shared her list of priorities for office. 

“I’m all about ensuring that we have now the resources we’d like. That the plan and the vision goes to incorporate small businesses. It’s going to incorporate people getting jobs that provide dignity. It’s also going to incorporate public safety that centers wellness,” she said. 

Youth leadership movement

Reuben Moore, president and executive officer of Minnesota Community Care, attended Bowie’s election night party at Gnome, sharing his excitement for several races across the metro. 

“We had a tremendous win by Anika Bowie. A tremendous win by Cheniqua. A tremendous win by Jeremiah Ellison. That is an incredible opportunity to refresh our political leadership in our Twin Cities and put the people first,” he said. 

Moore states this class of young diverse leaders will help transform how people view economic development, how they approach political engagement, and produce people into the method. 

Kate Peters was Bowie’s teacher at Central High School and said that Bowie’s authenticity and talent to hearken to constituents will give her a possibility to create a way of buy-in when big decisions are being made. 

“If you might have everybody on the table, then you definately can work it out in order that it’s not something people feel is being imposed on them,” Peters said. She emphasized that Bowie utilized grassroots outreach to realize support from voters, despite other candidates having secured more funding. 

Bowie’s campaign manager, Elijah Henderson, underlined the campaign’s deal with community.  

“We built a community-centered campaign that emphasized the importance of coming together and recognizing a shared vision,” he said. “I’m incredibly happy with all our team. Each one that knocked on a door for us, they’re the rationale why we won this.”

Charlie St. Dennis served because the campaign’s field director. He shared that while door-knocking across the ward, residents continually expressed their desire to have an accessible council member in office. 

“We knocked on tons of doors,” he said. “One thing that we overwhelmingly heard was not about crime, was not about secure streets, was not about any of that. Nevertheless it was really about accountability and communication. People didn’t know who town council member was. People want someone that they will count on to achieve out to.”

Bowie said that if sworn in she would proceed to hearken to constituents and interact them on projects which might be going down across the ward, specifically the project in Midway, the Reconnect Rondo land bridge, and the Summit Avenue bike trail. 

“We plan on this being an education campaign. And having the voice of the City Council isn’t just going to public hearings. Nevertheless it’s repeatedly being locally and educating everyone across the initiatives which might be happening,” she said.