I wrote about this during the primary cycle. It’s now been narrowed down to two candidates:

Irene Fernando (Incumbent, DFL-endorsed)
Sharon El-Amin

I preferred Irene in the primary and I continue to prefer Irene for a number of reasons.

1. Irene highlights her support of immigrants (she specifically mentions expanding support for the Immigrant Legal Defense fund), an issue that Sharon doesn’t mention on her website.
   
2. Irene’s work on homelessness includes the steps that mostly eliminated veteran homelessness in Hennepin County, and also taking steps to re-legalize SROs (single-room occupancy housing. SROs are controversial but something I strongly support as one of a number of solutions to homelessness; they can offer a level of deep affordability that allow a lot more people to avoid or escape homelessness.
   
3. Sharon is endorsed by a number of people I dislike, including LaTrisha Vetaw, Michael Rainville, and Pearll Warren, who are some of the most conservative people on the Minneapolis City Council.
   
4. Sharon’s website is full of statements that are basically her saying, we’ll just do the GOOD things!” Like on the garbage-burner, she says, “It’s time to stop kicking the can down the road for the next generation; I will advocate for closure, as well as the creation of a community-led task force to create a cohesive plan and promote transparency and accountability.” Literally that is what everyone has been doing that has resulted in the can getting kicked. (A lot of her website is like this. For HCMC she wants to “advance long-term, reliable funding solutions.” For addiction treatment she says she will “support recovery services, treatment access, and reintegration efforts that prioritize long-term stability over short-term, fragmented solutions.” It would be better if every person with a substance use disorder got into long-term treatment that fixed them, sure, and also, in the meantime, I support making Narcan as available as possible to save lives in a short-term, fragmented kind of way. I don’t think she’s opposed to Narcan, to be clear, I’m just saying, the reason we have a lot of short-term, fragmented solutions to addiction isn’t that the people on the Hennepin County Board don’t think long-term stability is a valuable goal.)

One update I’ll make to my comments on the primary: I link to some homophobic and transphobic statements that Sharon El-Amin made in 2016. I got an e-mail from Joyner Emerick, one of Sharon’s colleagues from the school board, who is trans and has endorsed Sharon. Joyner said: “In my 3.5 years of School Board work with Sharon El-Amin, I have never felt that being me being transgender and visibly gender nonconforming has impacted our collegiate relationship. In fact, she’s been one of the colleagues who has most frequently invited me into collaborative projects, expressed respect and value for my work, and sought my perspective. As well, to the very best of my recollection, Director El-Amin has voted in favor of every measure or policy to strengthen protections for LGBTQ+ students and staff. She has done so even when she has received pushback from constituents.” I find that genuinely reassuring.

I would still prefer Irene Fernando and would vote for her if I lived in this district.

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 raised $7,230 during primary season so I’ve raised the goal.

I also have a new book out! 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 Books in signed copies.