Lisa Bender

On April 22, 2017, Bender was endorsed by the DFL for a second term. Bender won her re-election campaign on November 7, 2017, making her the first incumbent in over 20 years to do so in the ward.

Following the 2017 elections, Bender was unanimously elected by her colleagues as the new President of the Minneapolis City Council.

In the 2016 Democratic primary, Bender was the only Minneapolis elected official to endorse Senator Bernie Sanders' campaign. She served as the campaign's surrogate before the local media on caucus night when Sanders won Minnesota and was elected to be a delegate for him at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Bender later supported Hillary Clinton's bid for the presidency.

During her first term, Bender has focused on creating a safe transportation system for all, expanding affordable housing choices, fighting for workers protections and higher wages, and supporting community and environmental health. She authored the city's complete streets ordinance, protected bikeway update to the Bicycle Master Plan, accessory dwelling unit ordinance and landmark paid sick leave ordinance, establishing Minneapolis as the first city in the Midwest guaranteeing workers the ability to accrue up to 48 hours of sick and safe time each year. In 2015, she authored an ordinance eliminating or reducing the minimum parking requirement for new residential developments along high-frequency transit routes. The Obama Administration highlighted Bender's parking reform ordinance in its 2016 Housing Development Toolkit as a successful initiative to lessen housing costs, reduce pollution, traffic congestion, and improve economic development.

She was named L'Etoile Magazine's MVP of the year in 2015. In 2016, she was named one of Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal's People to Watch.

Bender was sworn into office on January 6, 2014. She was named chair of the city's Zoning and Planning Committee, one of only two first-term council members to chair a standing committee of the council.

In 2012, Bender decided to challenge incumbent Meg Tuthill for the DFL endorsement for a seat on the Minneapolis City Council representing the city's 10th Ward. After six ballots and five hours, she secured the party's endorsement over Tuthill and two other challengers. She defeated Tuthill in the general election on November 5, 2013 with 62.4% of the vote.

Three weeks before election day, Bender gave birth to her second daughter in October 2013.

In 2010, Bender was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer 11 weeks into her first pregnancy. She has since recovered.

She worked for the City of San Francisco as a city planner before returning to Minnesota in 2009 where she worked for Hennepin County before moving to the Minnesota Department of Transportation to manage Minnesota's Safe Routes to School program. She co-founded the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition, an advocacy organization working to make riding a bike safer and more joyful in Minneapolis.

Born in Shoreview, Minnesota, Bender graduated from Irondale High School and earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota in Spanish and Biology. In 2001, she moved to New York City and worked as the Communications Director for the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, traveling across the world advocating for biking, walking, and non-motorized transportation. She received her master's degree in City and Regional Planning from University of California, Berkeley in 2007.

Elizabeth Peterson "Lisa" Bender (born May 11, 1978) is an American Minnesota DFL politician and city planner living in Minneapolis, currently serving her second term on the Minneapolis City Council as a representative of the city's 10th Ward. In 2018, she was unanimously elected president of the Minneapolis City Council.