Jennifer A. McEwen ( ; born May 14, 1977) is a

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

politician and member of the

Minnesota Senate The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Minnesota Legislature, Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any State legislature (Unite ...

. A member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), she represents Senate District 8, which includes the city of

Duluth Duluth ( ) is a Port, port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County, Minnesota, St. Louis County. Located on Lake Superior in Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, the city is a hub for cargo shipping. The population ...

in St. Louis County.

Early life, education, and career

McEwen is a Duluth native who had received her

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

from the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

. She then attended the

Hamline University School of Law Hamline University School of Law was a private law school affiliated with Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1972 as the Midwestern School of Law by a group of legal professionals. In 1976, Midwestern School of Law w ...

, earning a J.D. She became an attorney for disabled workers and board president of the Damiano Center, where she has worked with families struggling with food security. McEwen was also previously a public defender. She has two children.

Minnesota State Senate

In 2020, McEwen challenged incumbent Senator

Erik Simonson Erik Simonson (born May 26, 1968) is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he represented District 7 which includes the city of Duluth in St. Louis C ...

for the DFL endorsement in District 7. She won the endorsement and the primary, with 77% of the vote. She then won the general election against Republican nominee Donna Bergstrom, a second-time candidate who ran against Simonson in 2016, with just over 68% of the vote. McEwen was reelected in 2022. She is a member of the

Democratic Socialists of America The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a political organization in the United States and the country's largest Socialism, socialist organization. Sitting on the Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left of the politic ...

(DSA). McEwen serves on the following committees: * Chair: Labor Finance and Policy * Vice Chair: Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Legacy Finance * Transportation Finance and Policy * Energy, Utilities, Environment and Climate Finance and Policy In the

93rd Minnesota Legislature The Ninety-third Minnesota Legislature was the meeting of the legislative branch of the state of Minnesota, composed of the Minnesota Senate and the Minnesota House of Representatives between 2023 and 2024. It convened in Saint Paul on January ...

, as chair of the Labor Committee, McEwen oversaw reforms that required paid sick leave for all employees and banned non-compete agreements. She authored a bill to increase the liability of contractors for

wage theft Wage theft is the failing to pay wages or provide employee benefits owed to an employee by contract or law. It can be conducted by employers in various ways, among them are failing to pay overtime; violating minimum wage, minimum-wage laws; the m ...

. She also wrote and sponsored the Protect Reproductive Options Act, which protects abortion rights in Minnesota, after ''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right to have an ...

'' was overturned in 2022. McEwen authored and supported legislation to reestablish passenger rail service between the Twin Cities and Duluth, the

Northern Lights Express The Northern Lights Express (NLX) project is a planned higher-speed rail service that would run between Minneapolis and Duluth primarily in the U.S. state of Minnesota. A portion of the proposed line would run through neighboring Wisconsin to ...

. In addition, she was the primary sponsor of a bill to provide $240 million to replace lead service lines across Minnesota, which passed and was signed into law in May 2023.

Explanatory notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McEwen, Jen, Amy 1977 births Democratic Party Minnesota state senators University of Maine alumni Hamline University School of Law alumni People from Duluth, Minnesota Members of the Democratic Socialists of America from Minnesota Living people 21st-century members of the Minnesota Legislature

Early life, education, and career

Minnesota State Senate

See also

Explanatory notes

References