28 Facts About Jacob Frey

Jacob Lawrence Frey is an American politician and attorney who has served as the mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota since 2018.

Jacob Frey competed in marathons across the country and was a member of Team USA at the 2007 Pan American Games.

Jacob Frey was elected to the Minneapolis City Council in 2013, representing Ward 3.

Jacob Frey grew up in Oakton, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, DC His parents were both professional modern ballet dancers; his mother is of Russian-Jewish ancestry, and his father converted to Judaism.

Jacob Frey competed at the 2002 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships.

Jacob Frey ran in several marathons across the country and competed for Team USA in the 2007 Pan American Games marathon, finishing in fourth place.

Jacob Frey has been active in community causes since moving to Minneapolis.

In late 2011, Jacob Frey ran in a special election for an open state senate seat and came in fifth in the party primary.

In 2012, Jacob Frey founded and organized the first Big Gay Race, a 5K charity race to raise money for Minnesotans United for All Families, a political group organizing for marriage equality.

Jacob Frey ran in the 2013 Minneapolis City Council election to represent Ward 3.

Jacob Frey's platform promised better constituent services, to spur residential development, increase the number and variety of small and local businesses, and push for full funding of affordable housing and address climate change.

Jacob Frey authored an amendment to the 2015 budget that increased funding for the city's Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

In 2016, Jacob Frey authored an ordinance requiring polluters to pay fees based on the amount of pollution they produce.

Jacob Frey was involved in drafting the council's 2016 paid sick leave ordinance and the 2017 minimum wage ordinance.

Jacob Frey was one of the first council members to support a minimum wage ordinance.

Jacob Frey authored the amendment to the minimum wage ordinance that gave small businesses a longer phase-in than large businesses for implementing the minimum wage.

Jacob Frey led the effort to expand early voting access in Minneapolis ahead of the 2016 election, increasing the number of early voting sites in Minneapolis from one to five.

Jacob Frey announced his candidacy for mayor of Minneapolis on January 3,2017, and won the November 7 election.

Jacob Frey was sworn into office on January 2,2018.

Jacob Frey is Minneapolis's second Jewish mayor, and its second-youngest after Al Hofstede, who was 34 when he was elected mayor in 1973.

Jacob Frey campaigned on a platform of increasing support for affordable housing and improving police-community relations.

Jacob Frey rolled out reforms to the Minneapolis Police Department's body camera policy in April 2018.

In 2019, Jacob Frey announced during his State of the City address the banning of "warrior" training for police officers, which had been taken by the officer who killed Philando Castile.

On March 16,2020, Jacob Frey issued an order declaring a local emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On June 5,2020, Jacob Frey approved a temporary restraining order and directed changes to the Minneapolis Police Department that were approved by the Minneapolis City Council to go into effect immediately.

Jacob Frey married his first wife, Michelle Lilienthal, in 2009.

Jacob Frey met his second wife, Sarah Clarke, through community organizing in Minneapolis.

Jacob Frey is a Reform Jew and attends a Reform synagogue in Minneapolis, Temple Israel, together with his wife, who converted to Judaism.