**After being sworn in as Senate President, Bobby Joe Champion gave a brief speech before gaveling in other business.**
Photo by David PIerini

By David Pierini, Editor

Bobby Joe Champion has little use for stillness.
He is up by 3;30 each morning to start his day in the gym. He walks the halls of the Minnesota Capitol building with a spring in his step, leaving younger staffers and colleagues trailing a skip. Even when his wiry frame is in a chair in his Senate office, he is buoyant and burning calories in conversation.

Champion radiates “I can.”

The four-term Senator representing North Minneapolis made history on Jan. 3 when he was the first African-American elected Senate president. Even amongst a body of lawmakers where Democrats hold a one-seat majority, Champion picked up a couple of Republican votes.

Most of the Senate stood and clapped as Champion walked from his District 59 seat near the back to the front of the floor, where he took the president’s oath and the gavel to begin the new session.

Family and friends drove through a snowstorm to celebrate this historic occasion with Champion. They posed with him at the president’s podium for pictures, prayed with him before his swearing-in and cheered from the east balcony when the vote made his presidency official.

Beforehand, when he walked with his staff from the Senate Building to the Capitol, they paused at a photo showing all of the Senate presidents. Champion’s official portrait had already been added to his surprise. The significance of his ascension was sinking in.

“It’s a good feeling to say I am going to break that barrier,” Champion told North News beforehand. “There’s an opportunity for kids who look like me to say, ‘Wow,’ and at least start asking questions and maybe get inspired to do something similar or greater. We never ever do anything for it to stop with us. It is to create momentum.”

**Champion gathered in everyone for a prayer, including the Rev. Dr. Charvez Russell of Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, left, Champion’s wife, Angela, and their son, Myles.** Photo by David Pierini

Champion will need momentum, confidence and patience to navigate an often discordant group. His party has control of the governor’s office and both chambers, but the Democrats hold the Senate with just a single seat.

Nothing about the party’s ambitious agenda – drivers’ licenses for all, codifying a woman’s right to choose, marijuana legalization, paid family and medical leave, affordable housing and education funding to name a few – is a slam dunk.

But Champion loves vigorous discourse and sees his role as making sure Senators engage one another with respect and decorum to the extent that is possible.

“I’ve sat next to him for the last six years on the floor and he has such an ability to grasp the issues and have those discussions,” Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic said. “He is a graceful orator and has a commanding presence. He is extremely respectful when you disagree and he can move the conversation forward. He’s good at reaching out to both sides and finding that common ground.”

The ‘I can’t’ kid

Champion has had a rich career in three spaces, music, law and politics. A North High graduate, he grew up watching the TV courtroom drama Perry Mason. It sparked an interest in law and he went on to earn degrees in political science and law at Macalester College and William Mitchell College of Law.

He grew up with a love for music that was fostered by The Way Community Center. There, he led the Leo Johnson Drum and Bugle Corp and ran shows by the house band, The Family, fronted by a shy and gifted kid named Prince Rogers Nelson.

Champion went on to direct the choir Excelsior, which produced seven CDs and a Grammy nomination. After law school, he practiced law with now Attorney General Keith Ellison, worked for the Legal Rights Center, worked as an assistant state attorney general and then eventually turned to music law, working with Flyte Time Productions and its Grammy Award-winning founders, producers Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam Harris.

**Champion greets Sen. Foung Hawj of Saint Paul. The two serve on the Jobs and Economic Growth Committee, which Champion chairs.** Photo by David Pierini

He served two terms in the House before running for Senate and has championed issues ranging from job creation, affordable housing and transportation to education, health and criminal justice reform. Champion said he never wanted to hold elected office. He worked to get others to run. But in instances when no one stepped forward and others encouraged him, Champion answered the call.

The counselors at The Way understood Champion’s potential when he first showed up there around the age of 8. But the kid needed a lot of work.

“His favorite word at 8 was ‘I can’t. I can’t do what the other kids do,’ “ said Spike Moss, a counselor at The Way. “He said it so much, I told the staff I want total focus on Bobby Joe until we get ‘I can’t’ out of his mouth. I put him next to Prince. Both had real struggles but they went from the bottom to the top.”

Moss credits two of The Way’s most fabled educators, Vusi Zulu and Mahmoud El-Kati, for instilling in Champion and others pride, self-esteem and self-motivation.

The Way also gave Champion his first taste of community service. Moss would put his management and organization skills to good use by organizing cultural festivals.

One of Champion’s most valuable sessions in service came on a field trip to Washington D.C. in 1981, when The Way Opportunities Unlimited, Inc. brought kids to the now famous rally at the Washington monument led by singer Stevie Wonder as he led the crowd in calling for a national holiday observing the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.

“He used an analogy on that cold January day,” Champion remembered. “He said the world is like a symphony. It’s important for us to pay our part in order to make beautiful music that will become the soundtrack of our life. What are we doing in order to make sure that we are. I was young and I was listening.

“That moment is what led to me having a real thought about how we function together. How do we create that sense of fairness and opportunity? It takes all of us to collectively make a valuable contribution to get the desired outcomes we’re looking for.”

The challenge ahead

Champion has always ensured his district is in the conversation, whether its education funding, affordable housing or health care reform. Now, as Senate president he must do that and convince more conservative members that their constituents have many of the same needs.

**Prior to the opening of session, Champion met with Senate staff and members of the leadership caucus to go over rules and procedures.** Photo by David Pierini

To get the Senate to perform collectively like a symphony will take mettle and every lesson he has learned about respect, tolerance, organizing and persuasive speaking. Champion says the job is not ceremonial, as some media outlets have described.

“What you’re doing is creating an opportunity for a robust conversation to happen and to understand fairness,” Champion said. “Everybody is making a contribution. I think of this role as creating an environment where robust discussions on behalf of all Minnesotans can happen. How do we put up the guardrails when somebody else wants to tear up a little too loudly or just say provocative things? We don’t have to agree but we all should have an opportunity to speak what we think and then let the chips fall where they may.”

The job has been described as ceremonial, but Champion is not letting tradition stop him from sponsoring legislation. During the second week of session, Champion sponsored a bill that protects natural hair from discrimination. A companion bill to that of Northside Rep. Esther Agbaje, the Crown Act passed both chambers and will signed into law later this session. Juneteenth will now be a state holiday thanks to a bill that originated with Champion.

He is also a co-sponsor of a bill that would give undocumented residents the right to apply for a driver’s license. He has put forth this bill during each of the last three sessions and with Democratic control, it has its best chance of landing on the governor’s desk for signing.

Moss would like to see Champion go to Washington D.C. as a representative or senator. He had announced intentions of running for the U.S. House seat vacated by Ellison in 2018, but pulled out over concerns of an ugly primary skirmish (Ilhan Omar won and just began her third term in Congress).

“He’s so humble and when he had a chance to go to Congress and make a difference there, he stayed because he’s concerned about his community,” said Dr. Russell Pointer, the pastor of Minneapolis Central Church of Christ, who led Champion, family and friends in prayer circle just before the senator took the floor. “He’s a homeboy and I appreciate the fact that he never forgets where he comes from.

“That’s why I couldn’t stay away no matter how bad the snow storm was.”

‘Graceful orator’ Champion appreciates the significance of his Senate presidency