When a bipartisan group of 25 women established the Minnesota Women’s Campaign Fund in 1982, only 14% of Minnesota legislators were women. Recognizing the urgent need to elect a more representative government, our founders gathered in living rooms and around kitchen tables to organize early support for pro-choice women candidates. Encouraging women to run, recruiting volunteers, and getting involved in campaigns across the state, the organization continued to grow in size and scope. 

In 2007, we became Women Winning and today are Minnesota’s largest and most influential women’s political organization. Women Winning has trained and endorsed thousands of pro-choice women candidates across the state and for all levels of office, and has more than tripled the number of pro-choice women state legislators, county commissioners, and mayors. We’re not slowing down — pro-choice women continue to rise up to run for office, and Women Winning will be with them at every step on the campaign trail.

Women Winning is proud to have supported some of the most trailblazing, influential women in Minnesota’s history. 

When a bipartisan group of 25 women established the Minnesota Women’s Campaign Fund in 1982, only 14% of Minnesota legislators were women. Recognizing the urgent need to elect a more representative government, our founders gathered in living rooms and around kitchen tables to organize early support for pro-choice women candidates. Encouraging women to run, recruiting volunteers, and getting involved in campaigns across the state, the organization continued to grow in size and scope. 

In 2007, we became Women Winning and today are Minnesota’s largest and most influential women’s political organization. Women Winning has trained and endorsed thousands of pro-choice women candidates across the state and for all levels of office, and has more than tripled the number of pro-choice women state legislators, county commissioners, and mayors. We’re not slowing down — pro-choice women continue to rise up to run for office, and Women Winning will be with them at every step on the campaign trail.

Women Winning is proud to have supported some of the most trailblazing, influential women in Minnesota’s history. 

Joan A. Growe, the first woman elected to statewide office in Minnesota in her own right.

Dee Long, the first woman to serve as Speaker of the Minnesota House. 

Sharon Sayles Belton, the first woman and African American elected Mayor of Minneapolis. 

Toni Carter, the first African American ever elected to a county board in the state of Minnesota.

Amy Klobuchar, the first woman to serve as Hennepin County Attorney and the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Minnesota.

Susan Allen, the first Native American woman elected to the Minnesota legislature and the first openly gay Native American woman elected to a state legislature in the country. 

Margaret Anderson Kelliher, the second woman to serve as Speaker of the Minnesota House and the first woman to receive a major party’s endorsement for Governor in Minnesota.

Emily Larson, the first woman Mayor of Duluth.

Ilhan Omar, the first Somali-American and one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress.

Andrea Jenkins, Minneapolis City Council member and the first openly transgender Black woman to be elected to public office in the U.S. 

Renee Van Nett, the first Native American woman elected to the Duluth City Council.

Angie Craig, the first LGBTQ+ member of Congress from Minnesota.

Angela Conley and Irene Fernando, the first persons of color elected to the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners.

Maria Regan Gonzalez, the first Latinx Mayor in Minnesota.

Kamala Harris, the first woman and first Black and Asian American Vice President of the United States.