Senator Jen McEwen was elected to the Minnesota State Senate in 2020, to represent the people of Duluth. In her election to the State Senate, McEwen successfully defeated her predecessor, a DFL incumbent senator, in part by focusing on their community’s concerns around proposed copper-sulfide mining, the importance of safeguarding Lake Superior, and climate change. McEwen is an attorney with a focus in public interest work. Most recently, she represented disabled workers denied benefits and services, and has also served as an assistant public defender, a judicial law clerk, and a legal aid attorney and program director. During her first term as state senator, McEwen has focused on protecting Minnesota's waters, the need to make a rapid, just transition to clean energy, supporting workers, advancing the cause of universal health care in Minnesota, and defending and expanding reproductive freedom. Senator McEwen was raised in Duluth and is a proud graduate of Duluth Public Schools. She lives in the home her great-grandparents built, with her husband, their two teenagers, and two silly dogs. Senator McEwen is a former president and current member of the board of the Damiano Center, and a member of the board of Center City Housing.