Why am I running?

I’m Kimberly Wilburn.  I am a mother, a wife, a veterinarian, a scientist, a community organizer, an activist, and a community member. When I first decided to run for office in 2019, it was because I was tired of seeing politicians make promises only to forget those promises once they were in office.  We’ve been through a lot since that time and the pandemic and the events that have put the Twin Cities area in the national spotlight have shown a spotlight on many of the issues that first prompted me to run. Minnetonka is not immune to the problems faced by many communities across Minnesota.

While there is hopefully an end in sight concerning the Coronavirus pandemic, we can not return to “normal” as so many have wished for.  For many poor people, people of color, queer people, disabled people, and other marginalized people, normal wasn’t working.  

I made the statement last year that we could not continue to accept the status quo as it was literally killing people.  And while there are those, elected and otherwise, that are fighting to make changes for the better, there are some that are fighting just as hard to maintain the status quo.

It breaks my heart that there are people living on the streets, that there are children who go to bed hungry, that there are elderly who are unable to afford needed medical care, that there are huge disparities in opportunities and outcomes for people of color in every area of life – from education to criminal justice to employment, that immigrants in a country of immigrants are often vilified instead of welcomed, that indigenous peoples continue to face oppression and that any recognition of their place in our history is somehow seen as “denying history”, and I am terrified about what we are doing to the planet and what the future will look like for our children and grandchildren if we don’t make some changes.

I believe that by working together, we create a new normal where everyone is treated with dignity and everyone has a chance to thrive.