Nearly a decade ago, Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg accidentally coined a catchphrase while giving an interview at Georgetown about the history of women in law and politics.
“People ask me sometimes, When—when do you think it will be enough? When will there be enough women on the court?” she said. “And my answer is, When there are nine.”
While RBG’s nine has yet to materialize (today’s Supreme Court includes four women; there have only ever been six out of 116 total justices), St. Paul’s version has become a reality, with all seven city council seats now belonging to women—all of whom are younger than 40 and six whom are women of color.
When we talk to council member Mitra Jalali, who’s represented Ward 4 since she won a special election in 2018, a few days after the election in November, she mentions how many people have brought up “when there are nine” to her.
“That’s been a really emotional, unexpected reality,” she says on the phone from her car, her blinker clicking in the background. “To think about all the experiences that were never at the table before and how we suddenly have a plethora and abundance of those experiences is critical to, frankly, undo the inequities that resulted from a lack of representation.”
The United States has seen all-female councils before: in Asheville, North Carolina, in 2020 and Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 2021. But St. Paul is the largest city in the country to achieve such standing. And with three incumbents and four new members, the new council feels optimistic about working together to get things done.
Rebecca Noecker, who leads Ward 2, is now the most senior council member, both in actual age (she’s 39) and council term length (she’s the only one who’s already served two full terms).
“I’m so energized by this group,” she says. “We need this fresh energy. Nothing is set in stone, and we have this blank piece of paper on which we can write the things our community needs.”
And while those needs differ from ward to ward—and neighborhood to neighborhood—most of the council members share similar goals. Housing access is a huge issue for St. Paul, community members affirmed on the campaign trail, as are road conditions and potholes, transportation access, public safety, and climate change.
Saura Jost, the incoming Ward 3 council member, has worked in civil engineering for more than a decade, and she sees her background as an asset to the council, especially for fixing long-lamented issues surrounding public infrastructure.
“Civil engineering is water resources, the environment, transportation, building design, so many things,” she says. “And the ways engineers approach problems—they have to gather information, make sure we have the people and expertise needed to find a solution, work in project management—can really be applied to city government.”
Jalali agrees, stressing the incoming council is more than simply women of color filling seats. She’s quick to point out the council-elect’s backgrounds: Anika Bowie, in Ward 1, is a local entrepreneur; Noecker taught middle school; Ward 7’s Cheniqua Johnson and Ward 5’s HwaJeong Kim have experience in nonprofit work and leadership. Many, including Jalali and Ward 6’s Nelsie Yang, have years of organizing experience and other involvement in politics.
“We are informed by our experiences; we go through the world as Black, Brown, and Asian women, but we also have all these skills and résumés,” Jalali says. “I want to bring these experiences to bear on the very high-trust, high-responsibility work of ensuring the well-being of this city.”
But, of course, not every St. Paulite voted the same way. Many of the ranked-choice races were hotly contested, with three called in the days after the election. And hundreds of thousands of political action committee dollars supporting other candidates threatened some of the grassroots organizers. Service Saint Paul, a PAC started by local business leaders and labor unions, endorsed and put money behind five candidates in four of the seven races, many of whom challenged the grassroots candidates’ views on issues like police funding and rent control. None of them won, but their contenders felt the heat.
“There was a lot of PAC money,” Bowie, council member–elect in Ward 1, concedes. “But I think what set us apart from special interests or big money was the relationships. This group showed our courage and commitment to grassroots organizing, but we also showed we mean business.”
Yang, the incumbent winner in Ward 6, agrees. “You can’t get to a new outcome if you have the same players at the table,” she says. “With this new group, I hope we can advance our city in a way that other cities look up to. We are the future of what government and politics will look like.”
Starting this month, St. Paul, and the rest of the country, will get to see if Yang and her colleagues are right.