The state House is where Esther Agbaje will next apply lessons from her parents
By David Pierini staff reporter
Esther Agbaje went to meetings, all kinds of meetings, at an early age.
Esther Agbaje will be sworn in as District 59B state representative in January. Photo by David Pierini
The daughter of an Episcopalian minister, the young Agbaje watched how her father led church and neighborhood groups in discussions about housing, community policing and spiritual matters. She was 12 or 13 years old when she asked her father the purpose of the meetings. He told her, “We’re working to make life better for people.”
This lesson is the essence of an adult life focused on public service that Agbaje, 35, will soon bring to her new job as the state representative for District 59B.
Agbaje, whose district covers half of North Minneapolis and a majority of downtown, will replace four-term incumbent Raymond Dehn when she is sworn into office in January. She won the Nov. 3 election against Republican Alan Shilepsky with nearly 75 percent of the vote.
Being a state representative, she says, is about “giving back to the community and showing up for people.”
Agbaje’s stamina for meetings, in part, helped her defeat Dehn in the August primary. Pick a Northside gathering and Agbaje was likely to show up, sometimes in the back row taking notes or quietly introducing herself to a more vocal participant during a break.
It’s the kind of groundwork required of a political newcomer. And as she spends the remaining weeks of 2020 in online orientation classes, she is counting on her work experience to give her the credibility of more seasoned politicians.
Agbaje is an attorney with Ciresi Conlin, LLP. She practices general civil litigation and medical malpractice and was part of a team that settled with the Minnesota Department of Corrections to provide life-saving medication to prisoners with Hepatitis C.
She is also part of the Hennepin County Housing Court Project Volunteer Lawyer Network, providing free service to needy clients facing eviction. It is volunteer work she first did at a legal clinic while attending Harvard Law School and housing stability, she said, is what propelled her to want to work at the Capitol in St. Paul.
She signed a #HomesGuarantee pledge and is committed to securing funding to build more public housing across Minnesota.
“I got into this race because of housing issues,” Agbaje said. “From having conversations with people on the ground, I would hear about the need for (legislative solutions). I thought maybe that’s an opportunity for me to help in a different way.”
Agbaje also will prioritize environmental justice by proposing regulations to boost air and water quality, but also policies that bring food stability to communities. She has served on climate groups through TakeAction Minnesota and St. Mark’s Cathedral to promote renewable energy.
She said she will combat racial inequality and systemic biases within state and local institutions. State lawmakers need to develop “race-conscious” policies in spaces like healthcare, housing and education to eliminate harm current policies have to communities of color.
“North Minneapolis is getting a champion of affordable housing and social and racial justice,” said Vachel Hudson, a housing counselor for the Urban League Twin Cities. “Esther is someone who will be active and highly involved in the community. I do believe she will move the marker forward, especially on the homeless and housing issue. North Minneapolis is getting a representative who looks like the majority of the community.”
Agbaje was born in St. Paul to parents who immigrated from Nigeria to further their education. The work of her pastor father moved the family around the state and beyond. She lived in Brainerd, Chicago, Ill., and attended high school in Faribault.
At one time, her mother, a librarian, helped run a homeless shelter.
She graduated with a political science degree from George Washington University and earned a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Pennsylvania. Before enrolling at Harvard Law School, Agbaje was a Foreign Affairs Officer with the U.S. Department of State.
Agbaje will be the first Nigerian-American in the Minnesota House and her victory was widely reported by news organizations on the African continent. The governor of her parent’s native state in Nigeria tweeted “Congratulations to our Ekiti daughter.”
“My parents were really excited and super proud (on election night),” she said. “For them, it's the culmination of the pride and service they instilled in us.”