meet
Liish Kozlowski
Ozaawaa Anakwad.
My Ojibwe name is Yellow Cloud. My English name is Liish. I use They/Them Pronouns. I’m proud to be the first openly Trans non-binary State legislator in Minnesota and the only Two Spirit legislator currently serving in the country — but I promise I won’t be the last!
Over two terms, I’ve worked hard to solidify my leadership and impact for greater Minnesota as Vice Chair of Housing Finance and Policy and Co-Chair of the Minnesota People of Color and Indigenous Caucus.
For the past three years, I’ve had a successful tenure at the Minnesota House of Representatives serving District 8B (Duluth located in St. Louis County). It’s been an honor to represent the people of 8B and I’m thrilled to run for re-election to serve eastern Duluth once again.
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 openly trans non-binary State Legislator in Minnesota and the only currently serving Trans-Two Spirit State Representative in the country. As a proud Anishinabeg-Ojibwe and Latine person, I’m humbled to hold leadership positions as Vice Chair of the Housing Finance & Police Committee, co-founder of the Minnesota Queer Caucus, and Co-Chair of the House POCI Caucus – a powerful bloc of Black, Brown, and Indigenous legislators.
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, and led the fight to secure $40 million in emergency rental assistance.
I am the recipient of the Minnesota Housing Partnership Legislative Leader Award and the Minnesota Public Health Association B. Robert Lewis Award.
In my spare time, you can catch me enjoying the great outdoors and the beautiful North Shore while connecting with my community and family.
