I am running for Hennepin County Commissioner because I believe local government should work for the people who work hard every day. Too many residents are struggling with housing costs, public safety concerns, and access to opportunity. As a small business owner, employer, and community advocate, I have spent years creating jobs, managing budgets, solving problems, and bringing people together. Those experiences have given me a practical understanding of the challenges facing families and businesses throughout our county. I am not a career politician. I am running to bring accountability, transparency, and common-sense leadership focused on safer communities, affordable housing, economic growth, and better results for residents.
My priorities are affordable housing, public safety, economic opportunity, and government accountability. If someone works full-time, they should be able to afford a safe place to live. I want to support small businesses, strengthen mental health and addiction services, improve county services, and ensure taxpayer dollars are spent effectively. Residents deserve results, not excuses.
HCMC is one of the county’s most important responsibilities and must remain strong and accessible. I would prioritize protecting essential services, pursuing state and federal funding opportunities, strengthening public-private partnerships, and improving operational efficiency before asking taxpayers for additional burdens. Strong oversight means transparency, measurable outcomes, and ensuring every dollar spent directly benefits residents and patients.
The County Board should work with cities, developers, nonprofits, and community organizations to increase the supply of safe, affordable housing. We must reduce unnecessary barriers to housing development, support first-time renters and homeowners, expand housing assistance programs, and ensure existing housing remains safe and well maintained. Housing should be attainable for working families, seniors, and young adults alike.
I support a responsible transition away from HERC while ensuring waste continues to be managed safely and affordably. Any closure timeline should be based on having viable alternatives in place first. To move toward zero waste, we should expand recycling, composting, waste reduction education, and partnerships that divert reusable materials from landfills. The goal should be environmental responsibility without creating unnecessary costs for residents.
Contact Phone
612-718-0908
telephone
6127180908
I'm running for Hennepin County Commissioner to bring new ideas, new leadership, and a new direction through collaboration and action. Raised in Minneapolis's Ward 8 and a proud Minneapolis Public Schools graduate, I've spent my career advocating for working families as a union representative, managing multimillion dollar budgets in the private sector, and leading as President of the Lyndale Neighborhood Board. As a lifelong Democrat, former DFL Precinct Chair, and parent of two Minneapolis Public Schools students, I understand our community's challenges and will bring proven leadership, fiscal responsibility, and a commitment to building a more responsive county government.
My priorities are improving public safety through stronger emergency response and mental health services, making county services faster and more reliable, leading a county driven response to homelessness and affordable housing, investing in safer streets and transit access, creating pathways to good-paying jobs, and ensuring county government is responsive, accountable, and works for every resident.
My priority is protecting HCMC and essential county services through responsible budgeting, strong oversight, and sustainable funding. I support maximizing state and federal reimbursements, pursuing competitive grants, improving operational efficiency, and growing the county's tax base through economic development rather than shifting costs to residents. HCMC must remain transparent, accountable, and focused on delivering high-quality care, period!
The County Board must lead on housing by expanding shelter, preventing homelessness, and helping residents move into stable housing. I support faster emergency assistance, stronger eviction prevention, more county operated shelter and supportive housing, and coordinated behavioral health and housing services. The county should take responsibility for leading a comprehensive, long-term response to homelessness.
I support closing HERC by 2030 or earlier, reflecting strong community concerns while allowing time to expand alternatives. To achieve zero waste, we should invest in countywide composting and recycling, require producer responsibility, reduce packaging, expand reuse and repair programs, strengthen food waste prevention, and ensure a just transition for workers and communities affected by the closure.
Contact Phone
612-276-2543
telephone
6122762543
I have spent eight years working inside Hennepin County Human Services, so I know firsthand how the county helps families and where it can do better. That insider experience sets me apart. I also serve on the AFSCME Local 34 executive board and am a combat veteran and lifelong Minnesotan. I am running to make our county an engine of affordability, a leader on clean energy, and a place where Black, brown, and immigrant families thrive. We keep us safe by caring for one another.
My priorities are affordability, the environment, and eliminating disparities. I will expand housing people can afford through community land trusts and transit oriented development, and protect Hennepin Healthcare as a public institution. I will move the county off the HERC trash incinerator toward solar, higher rates of recycling, and a zero waste future. And I will make sure families can reach the help they deserve, from childcare to Medical Assistance.
HCMC is a public hospital that serves the whole region, so the state must share the cost. I will push for a state match of at least 40 percent for regional patients who rely on Hennepin Healthcare, protect the county levy that funds mental health and housing services, and fight federal cuts every step. Oversight means keeping it public and accountable, with strong board appointments and real transparency. Long term, I will champion single payer health care so no one is left behind.
The Board funds and governs the county Housing and Redevelopment Authority, runs emergency shelter, and decides where our housing dollars go. That gives us real power to build and preserve homes families can afford. I will invest in community land trusts that lock in affordability for good, support single room occupancy options, and steer development toward transit so people are not priced out. Housing is the foundation of a stable life, and the county must treat it that way.
My goal is to close HERC by 2028, the front of the Board's range, not the back. Burning trash pollutes the air we all share, and every year we delay deepens the harm. To get there responsibly we must scale up what replaces it: countywide composting including in muli-family buildings, stronger recycling, and real source reduction so we throw away less to begin with. I will invest in diversion infrastructure instead of incinerator upgrades, and follow the county's own zero waste plan to its goal.
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Abdihakim Ibrahim is an engineer, community leader, former Vice Chair of the St. Louis Park School Board, and the first Somali American elected to the board. A husband and father, he has spent years strengthening schools, expanding opportunity, and bringing people together to solve local problems. He is running for Hennepin County Commissioner to deliver accountable leadership, stronger fiscal stewardship, and realistic solutions that improve everyday life for District 3 residents.
Commissioners should focus on affordability, housing, public safety, healthcare access, and economic opportunity. I will create a Unified Family Assistance Hub with in-person and online access to county services. Government should measure programs by results, not intentions. I will strengthen fraud prevention, support a public reporting hotline for waste and abuse, and ensure every taxpayer dollar delivers measurable value while protecting essential services.
HCMC is our safety-net hospital and must remain strong. Because it serves patients from across Minnesota, Hennepin County taxpayers should not bear the cost alone. I will prioritize core services and oppose another property-tax increase until every responsible alternative is exhausted. We should maximize state and federal funding, strengthen public-private partnerships, improve oversight, and eventually restore independent professional governance for HCMC.
The County Board should expand the supply of safe, affordable housing while preventing homelessness. I support partnering with cities and nonprofits to build more housing, preserve existing affordable homes, expand supportive housing with mental health services, streamline access to county programs, and invest in prevention so families remain housed. Stable housing strengthens public safety, health, and economic opportunity.
The 2028–2040 range is not a decision. I support setting a binding closure date well before 2040, with annual public targets for waste reduction, reuse, composting, recycling, and diversion from incineration. The County must publish a replacement-capacity and worker-transition plan with clear deadlines, costs, responsible agencies, and annual progress reports to ensure accountability and move toward zero waste without shifting more waste to landfills.
I am a father, and tax paying homeowner who has served on numerous successful boards, and lived in multiple countries. I am a published author, and currently coach youth hockey. I see everyday how sports positively impacts our youth, but everyday I also hear the reality about how expensive youth sports are becoming; and how that is creating a caste system of haves-and-have nots. No family should have to decide between enriching their child's life or keeping food on the table. That child getting the opportunity to participate in enrichment activities changes the whole trajectory of that child's life, and the greater community at large. We have the resources to provide that opportunity for every family that seeks it if we decide to act.
I will help young people to get into homes, start families, find affordable child care, and secure steady employment.
"The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in shadows of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped." Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr.
We need to find a solution that can keep it open, because the kids of today are the leaders of tomorrow. Keeping HCMC open will require a statewide solution. A healthy HCMC benefits all Minnesotans and not just those in the metro.
The role of the County's Board is provide more access to programs that offer down payment and closing cost assistance. Many young potential homebuyers cite the inability to save for a down payment as the reason why they have not purchased a home. For many, homeownership is the first domino that will fall as they journey into adulthood. As this milestone continues to get pushed back and become more illusive, we will see other dominos, like getting married and having children, delayed as well.
I would examine why it is going to take so long, and then would also take a take a deeper look into the demographic shifts that are occurring. Will the people who live in the neighborhood now be the same people living in the neighborhood 10-15 years from now? And will closing the facility 10-15 years from now have any effect on the population that is currently suffering from the effects? I would say close it now, and create a plan to mitigate the displacement happening to current residents.
