Park Board Candidate Info

This year’s election will bring new faces to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB). Four of the current commissioners (Billy Menz, Becky Alper, Elizabeth Schaffer, and Becka Thompson) are not running again, and other incumbents face serious challengers.

Seven candidates are running for the three at-large city-wide seats, including two incumbents, Meg Forney and Tom Olsen. Olsen, Michael Wilson and Amber Frederick secured the Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) endorsement in July and will be running along with the Green Party’s Adam Schneider. Forney, Mary McKelvey, and Matthew Dowgwillo are running without party endorsement.

You can learn some more about the at-large, southside and southwest candidates from these articles I wrote this summer for a few neighborhood papers. 

You can find an article on the hotly contested district 5 and uncontested district 3 park board races here:   https://www.longfellownokomismessenger.com/stories/sep-2025-messenger,122203

The Southwest districts are among the most competitive: https://www.swconnector.com/stories/park-board-changes-coming-soon,121289?

 Campaigning is also going strong for the 3 at-large seats: https://www.mynortheaster.com/news/meet-your-candidates-for-at-large-park-board/