In February 2026, Jeanelle Austin filed for Minnesota Senate District 62. She started canvassing her district during a polar vortex, and persisted through triple-digit summer heat. And in August she lost in the Democratic Primary.
In this episode, she sits down with Mark Labberton to reflect on what this experience has taught her about power, democracy, and what citizenship and neighbor-love means in the South Minneapolis neighborhood where she grew up.
The executive director of Rise & Remember—the nonprofit that preserves the memorial at George Floyd Square—Austin followed a conviction, that if running for office meant she could save just one person's life, she would do it.
She reflects on what it means to "run for something rather than against someone," the win-win campaign she designed by first answering what she would do with power if she lost, and the democratic machinery most voters never see: caucuses, delegates, conventions, endorsements, and party mailers that carry only the endorsed name. She reveals the shadow side of running against an incumbent in her own party: friends who could not endorse her, the party regular who said challengers to progressive incumbents should be punished, the front-porch conversations, the youth-built platform she carried to a rural Republican youth group, and the value a campaign loss is still worth when first-time voters turn out.
Episode Highlights
- "I remember telling myself I would run for office if it meant that I could save somebody's life."
- "My dearest friends advised me to not run against someone, but to run for something … this was the first moment where I felt like I would be running for something, and something that really mattered."
- "I also understood that my power did not come from this seat. My power came from my community, my family, my cultural identity."
- "This is my home. This is where I grew up. This is my neighborhood. These are my people."
- "Is it not our responsibility to lift up our best leaders and choose from among them? We are oftentimes choosing between the lesser of two evils."
- "What are you willing to give up if you say that you love us as your neighbor?"
- "We have the power as people to make this democracy what we need it to be. But we first have to believe in ourselves."
About Jeanelle Austin
Jeanelle Austin is executive director and co-founder of Rise & Remember, the Minneapolis nonprofit that preserves thousands of offerings left at George Floyd Square, where she also serves as lead memorial caretaker. She founded Racial Agency Initiative, a racial justice leadership coaching practice, in 2019. She holds a BA in Christian ministries from Messiah College and an MDiv in ethics and an MA in intercultural studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. In 2026 she ran in the DFL primary for Minnesota Senate District 62. The fourth of seven children, she grew up in Minneapolis's Bryant neighborhood, just blocks from the site of George Floyd's killing at 38th and Chicago Avenue.
Helpful Links and Resources
Show Notes
- Jeanelle's pilgrimage in Palestine with a Black religious scholars delegation; meeting a father in the West Bank whose fifteen-year-old son was imprisoned for throwing rocks
- "Run for something, not against someone."
- What it means to a run a "win-win campaign," designed after being advised to decide what she would do with power if she lost
- How power is located in community, family, and cultural identity rather than in a state senate seat
- What it was like to challenge a beloved incumbent inside your own party
- Caucusing for the first time, room to room, learning the process in real time
- Jeanelle's campaign backdrop: Operation Metro Surge, polar vortex, No Kings protests
- Her journey from caucus to delegate to convention to endorsement to party resources
- Pre-recruited delegates and the structural advantage of incumbency; party mailers that carry only the endorsed candidate's name
- Section 8 notice periods and the gap that produces homelessness
- Youth-built priorities carried an hour west to a Republican youth group
- Gun safety, neighbor-love, rural versus urban gun culture
- Food shelves versus food stamps, and the question of dignity
- Primary night at the People's Way, turn out for first-time local voters
- Giving power back by teaching neighbors how to run for political office
#JeanelleAustin #GeorgeFloydSquare #Minneapolis #RunForOffice #Democracy #CivicEngagement #FaithAndPolitics #Conversing
Production Credits
Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.
