meet
Liish Kozlowski
Ozaawaa Anakwad.
My Ojibwe name is Yellow Cloud. My English name is Liish. I use They/Them Pronouns. For the past two years, I’ve had a successful tenure at the Minnesota House of Representatives serving District 8B (St. Louis County in Duluth). It’s been an honor to represent the people of 8B and I’m thrilled to run for re-election to serve eastern Duluth.
As your DFL and Labor endorsed candidate, my roots in Duluth and our communities run deep. I was born and raised in Duluth to my Ojibwe mother and Mexican father, and was raised by my fiercely strong grandmother who was a hospital nutrition worker turned educator that raised me off a teacher’s pension. I’m the child of a father who worked as a union electrician and a mother, who with an eighth grade education, worked as a housekeeper and child care provider that instilled in me the value of taking care of this place and others.
My grandmother showed me how to trailblaze through any obstacle, something I’ve done as a co-founder of KwePack (a grassroots Indigenous Wellness Group), a first-generation graduate from the University of Minnesota Duluth, going on to earn a Master’s of Business Administration from the College of St. Scholastica, serving as Community Relations Officer for the the City of Duluth, and beyond.
A voice like mine has never represented District 8B or Minnesota: I am the first Ojibwe and Latine person to serve Duluth and the first non-binary/Two Spirit person to be elected to the Minnesota State legislature. Entering my first term, I held leadership positions as Vice Chair of the House POCI Caucus – a powerful bloc of Black, Brown, and Indigenous members and co-founder of the Minnesota Queer Caucus.
In my first two terms, I legislated new funding for Duluth nursing homes to care for seniors and workers, major funding increases for Local Government Aid (LGA) and the Duluth Public Schools, new tenant’s rights and laws around economic and racial wealth gaps in homeownership, and critical infrastructure projects.
I am the recipient of the Minnesota Housing Partnership Legislative Leader Award and the Minnesota Public Health Association B. Robert Lewis Award.
I am the proud parent of one incredibly amazing and hilarious kid. In my spare time, you can catch me enjoying the great outdoors and the beautiful North Shore while connecting with my community and family.
