Avenger of the Week | Andrea Jenkins, Minneapolis City Council

photo credit: Tony Webster [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Upon being elected to the Minneapolis City Council in January 2018 with 70% of the vote, Andrea Jenkins became the first Black openly transgender woman elected to public office in the United States. Once on the Council, Jenkins was quickly elected Vice President of the City Council. She currently serves as the chair of the Race Equity Subcommittee. She helped create a Racial Equity Community Advisory Committee consisting of city residents and also founded Trans United Fund, along with Hayden Mora, to aid transgender political candidates.

During the recent protests surrounding the death of George Floyd, Jenkins declared racism a public health issue akin to cancer and told the Minneapolis police chief, “We gotta make a change, bro.”

In addition to being a city councilperson, Jenkins is a performance artist, poet, and writer with an MFA in creative writing.

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After @annapoetic was elected with 70% of the vote, she became the first Black openly transgender woman elected to public office in the US and got to work fighting for equality. #AvengerOfTheWeek #GenderAvenger https://www.genderavenger.com/blog/avenger-of-the-week-andrea-jenkins