There are two open seats, and this race is not done with Instant Runoff, you just vote for your two favorites. After the primary, four people will advance. Five are running, so only one is actually getting dropped before the general election. This is a nonpartisan race, but the DFL does do endorsements and has endorsed two of the candidates.
This race appears on all ballots in Minneapolis. There are also some seats that cover just part of the city that will be up for election in November, but I’m pretty sure none have primaries.
On the ballot:
Christin Crabtree (DFL-endorsed)
Stephanie Johnson
Clifton “CJ” Henderson
Collin Beachy (incumbent, DFL-endorsed)
Michael Baskins
There was a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters on July 16th; it was attended by Christin, Collin, and Stephanie, and you can watch it here. (You can also read a liveblog of it on Bluesky.)
CJ Henderson has no website, no Facebook, and did not reply to my e-mail asking if they had anything about their goals or campaign they wished to share (though possibly my e-mail went to spam). They do have a single Instagram post which I have linked to. The post says, “I’m running to bring fresh leadership, stronger student support, transparency, and real community engagement to MPS. This campaign is about students, families, educators, and the future of Minneapolis.” The complete lack of other communication with the public about the campaign gives me a lot of skepticism about this person’s commitment to transparency or real community engagement. I would not vote for CJ Henderson.
Michael Baskins is an engineer who previously ran for Minneapolis City Council in Ward 2. He was funded by We Love Minneapolis but not endorsed by All Of Minneapolis, possibly because he spent 20% of his campaign funds on clothing and wound up in court over it. His school board campaign website does not mention his City Council run and he’s not wearing a suit in any of the photos.
The fact that Baskins has made super questionable choices with campaign money seems kind of disqualifying for a school board position. (Also, the fact that he was supported in his campaign run by the Greater Frey Mayoral Campaign is a big strike against him.) I wouldn’t vote for him.
Stephanie Johnson
Stephanie Johnson came to the school board forum but does not have a website. When I e-mailed her last month she said she was working on getting one up. (I don’t think this has happened.) Here’s what she added regarding her background, goals, etc:
– I have been a MPS parent since 2017. [classroom volunteer, reading intervention support, yearbook committee, pta, and site council at both elementary and middle school (MPS)]
– I have been teaching since 1999. [primarily as a community college instructor [psychology, ELL, and reading & study skills, but also as a K-12 special education teacher and reading teacher; multiple faculty leadership roles and collegewide work, including shared governance]
As an at-large candidate, my goal is to strengthen the education experience for current MPS students. In other words, work to ensure what MPS says students experience and learn is happening for all students in all MPS schools. Much of this relies on the conditions of learning and teaching and as one of nine directors on the school board I will invest time in listening, asking questions, seeking answers, and considering all possible options in order to provide a more stable foundation from which to grow.
For me, this run for office is an opportunity to serve my community. While I am an expert in my family’s experience with MPS, I know and want to know more about the experience of others because our children, those currently in school and those in each next generation deserve the very best we can do and to me, we are not yet there.
I am not backed, financially or otherwise, by any group. I am a one-person campaign, my own manager.
I only watched part of the forum. What stood out was that she talked a lot about working conditions for staff (including administrative staff) and retention of teachers and administrators. She was also a slow talker who was frustrated by the time constraints of a forum.
Collin is a special education teacher who has served on the school board for four years and is running for another term. Everyone seems to genuinely like him. School Board member is a job that pays poorly, takes up a lot more time than it’s supposed to, involves getting yelled at a bunch, and is in general a factory for burnout, which means people rarely run for re-election and this creates real issues with institutional memory. So I approach Minneapolis school board races with a pro-incumbent bias when someone’s running again, and I definitely think Collin would continue to be an asset to the school board.
Christin is someone I know through social media (Minneapolis Bluesky, mainly); she was heavily involved in organizing against ICE this winter. She’s the kind of person who years ago I’d say “have you ever thought about running for School Board?” and I’m excited that she’s running.
I would vote for Christin and Collin. I’ll note that I think Christin, Collin, Stephanie, and Michael are all going to make it through the primary because CJ doesn’t seem to actually be campaigning in any way. If you’re unhappy with Christin or Collin I would pick Stephanie over Michael despite her lack of a website. This is one of the years where I think the DFL endorsees are both good choices and the obvious people to vote for, though.
This seems like a good year to fundraise for a trans nonprofit, so I’m fundraising this year for TIGERRS. I don’t have a Patreon, and a fundraiser lets me see in a tangible way that people value my work, which is really helpful as a motivator. (This project is a lot of work.)
I also have a new book! Obstetrix is about an obstetrician who gets kidnapped by a cult because they want someone on hand to deliver their babies; it’s a story about enduring, surviving, and not giving up. You can buy it anywhere fine books are sold, and I’ve been doing my best to keep Uncle Hugo’s, Moon Palace, and Dreamhaven in signed copies.
Will Tell Stories For Food 