Phillipe Cunningham


Phillipe Cunningham is the city councilperson for Minneapolis Ward 4 and one of the first openly transgender men to be elected to public office in the United States. In the Minneapolis City Council election, 2017, Cunningham won over 20-year incumbent Barb Johnson by 157 votes. Cunningham identifies as black, queer, and transgender.

Early life and education

Cunningham was born in Streator, Illinois, where he lived until he was 18. His father worked as a unionized tractor mechanic/builder for more than forty years, while his mother was a dry cleaner employee; he is their only child. He studied at Mills College and Southern Illinois University Carbondale before transferring to DePaul University, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Chinese studies. He transitioned during his junior year at DePaul, inspired by the life and work of Lou Sullivan.

Career

Prior to his election to public office, Cunningham worked as a special education teacher in the South Side of Chicago and for the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation. He also worked as Senior Policy Aide and Advisor for Education, Youth Success, Racial Equity, and LGBTQ Rights for the Office of the Mayor of Minneapolis.
On July 10, 2015, when same-sex marriage was legalized, Cunningham married Lane Cunningham, who is an IT professional at the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities. They met at the Victory 44, a popular restaurant until its closing in 2017.
On November 7, 2017, Cunningham became the second of three openly trans men to be elected to public office in the United States. Jay Irwin was elected to the Ralston School Board in Nebraska the year prior. Tyler Titus was elected to the Erie School Board in Pennsylvania the same year as Cunningham. Cunningham and Andrea Jenkins are the first openly trans people of color to be elected to a city council anywhere in the United States.
Ward 4 sits includes the northwest corner of Minneapolis, above Lowry Avenue and below 53rd Avenue North. Xerxes Avenue provides its western border; the Mississippi River marks the east. The City of Minneapolis Department of Community Planning & Economic Development shows that it is rich in diversity with 57 percent people of color or indigenous residents.

Controversies

In November 2018 Cunningham drew attention for a Twitter tweet that disparaged opponents of the "Minneapolis 2040" plan as merely seeking to protect their "bungalow neighborhoods."
Cunningham is one of three Minneapolis City Council members who voted to dismantle the city's police department and afterwards started using private security for protection, out of public funds.