15 Facts About Lisa Bender

Elizabeth Peterson "Lisa" Bender is an American politician, city planner, and a former member of the Minneapolis City Council from the 10th Ward.

Lisa Bender received her master's degree in City and Regional Planning from University of California, Berkeley in 2007.

Lisa Bender worked for the City of San Francisco as a city planner before returning to Minnesota in 2009 where she worked for Hennepin County before moving to the Minnesota Department of Transportation to manage Minnesota's Safe Routes to School program.

Lisa Bender co-founded the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition, an advocacy organization working to make riding a bike safer in Minneapolis.

In 2012, Lisa Bender decided to challenge incumbent Meg Tuthill for the DFL endorsement for a seat on the Minneapolis City Council representing the city's 10th Ward.

Lisa Bender was named chair of the city's Zoning and Planning Committee, at the time one of only two first-term council members to chair a standing committee of the council.

Lisa Bender authored the city's complete streets ordinance, protected bikeway update to the Bicycle Master Plan, accessory dwelling unit ordinance and landmark paid sick leave ordinance, establishing Minneapolis as the first city in the Midwest guaranteeing workers the ability to accrue up to 48 hours of sick and safe time each year.

Lisa Bender was named L'Etoile Magazine's MVP of the year in 2015.

Lisa Bender won her re-election campaign on November 7,2017, making her the first incumbent in over 20 years to do so in the ward.

Lisa Bender sat as the vice-chair of the Transportation and Public Works Committee, the Elections and Rules Committee, and the Executive Committee, along with being a member of the Zoning and Planning Committee, the Budget Committee, the Housing Policy and Development Committee, the Committee of the Whole, and the Intergovernmental Relations Committee.

Lisa Bender announced she would not seek reelection to the city council in 2021, and was replaced by Aisha Chughtai.

In 2010, Lisa Bender was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer 11 weeks into her first pregnancy.

Three weeks before election day, Lisa Bender gave birth to her second daughter in October 2013.

Lisa Bender served as the campaign's surrogate before the local media on caucus night when Sanders won Minnesota and was elected to be a delegate at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

Lisa Bender later supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 general election and Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.