Luke Bronin
Former Mayor | Hartford, CT
Luke Bronin is a husband, a father, a veteran, and an attorney, and, during his tenure are mayor, committed to building a stronger Hartford for all of the city’s residents.
After taking office in 2016, Mayor Bronin led the city through the biggest fiscal crisis in the city’s history, working to put Hartford on a path to fiscal stability. In addition to promoting economic development and investment, his administration has focused on building opportunity for Hartford residents through key initiatives like the Youth Service Corps and the Reentry Welcome Center. He has also worked to position Hartford as a center of innovation and establish Hartford a leader in environmental stewardship.
Prior to becoming mayor, Mayor Bronin served in senior positions in both federal and state government. In 2013, he was appointed by then-Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy to serve as General Counsel. As the governor’s chief lawyer, Bronin was deeply involved in developing policies to combat veterans’ homelessness, pass common sense gun laws, expand economic opportunities, reform our criminal justice system, and protect our environment.
Prior to his role in the Governor’s office, he served in the Obama Administration as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In that role, he helped lead the federal government’s efforts to isolate and disrupt international terrorist groups, and advanced U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. Previously, he served as the Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, as an international affairs fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, and as Chief of Staff to the President of Property and Casualty Operations at the Hartford Financial Services Group, one of the capital city’s largest employers.
Mayor Bronin served as an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve and was a member of the military’s anti-corruption task force during his deployment to Afghanistan from September 2010 to April 2011. He earned his B.A. and J.D. from Yale University and his M.A. from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
He and his wife Sara live in Hartford with their three young kids.
Cavalier Johnson
Mayor | Milwaukee, WI
Mayor Cavalier Johnson took office as Acting Mayor of the City of Milwaukee in late 2021, and he set out immediately to build a safer city. He has prioritized violence reduction, economic development, and roadway safety. Before taking on his role as Acting Mayor, Johnson served as Common Council President while representing the city’s 2nd Aldermanic District.
In April of 2022, Mayor Johnson was elected as the forty-fifth chief executive of the City of Milwaukee winning with more than seventy percent of the vote. He is the first Black Mayor elected in the city, and only the fourth elected mayor in the past sixty-two years.
Mayor Johnson’s commitment to public service began at an early age when he was selected by the YMCA to participate in a pre-college program for low-income Milwaukee Public School students. That program, Sponsor-A-Scholar, instilled in him a passion to make Milwaukee better for future generations.
Growing up, his family moved frequently, and until middle school Mayor Johnson attended a different Milwaukee Public School almost every year. He has seen violence, evictions, food insecurity — challenges common in urban poverty. He brings that lived experience to his work as Mayor.
After graduating Bay View High School, Mayor Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and returned home to work for the Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board (MAWIB), now Employ Milwaukee. His focus included working with at-risk youth, youth entering the workforce for the first time, and adults retooling to enter the workforce.
Before his election as Alderman, he served as a staff assistant in the Mayor’s Office, where he worked with community and faith leaders to find creative solutions to pressing issues facing families.
Mayor Johnson remains deeply committed to the community, having served on the boards of the Milwaukee YMCA, ACLU-Wisconsin and Milwaukee Community Brainstorming Conference.
He and his wife, Dominique, have one son and twin daughters and live on Milwaukee’s north side.
Monique Diaz
District Judge | Bexar County, TX
Monique Diaz is a San Antonio native. She and her two brothers were raised by their Puerto Rican mother and Dominican father. Monique earned her undergraduate degree in Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin, and her law degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law. Prior to being elected to the bench, Monique owned and operated her own law firm for nearly a decade, where she represented low-income families, victims of domestic violence, civil litigants and small businesses. In the public sector, she represented non-profit and government agencies, and served as a City Attorney and City Prosecutor for municipalities statewide. In 2018, Monique was elected to the bench as Judge of the 150th Civil District Court in Bexar County where she presided over all civil matters. She currently serves on the Bexar County Juvenile Board, and is Co-Chair of the joint city-county Collaborative Commission on Domestic Violence.
Ranjeev Puri
Representative | Canton, MI
State Representative Ranjeev Puri was first elected in 2020, and has been focused on delivering for the people of Michigan from the start. Ranjeev works to find solutions to the issues that matter most, from tackling childcare to preserving clean water and standing up for small business to ensuring our schools are safe, Rep. Puri knows that improving the quality of life for everyday Michiganders is the biggest priority.
Additionally, Ranjeev comes to the Michigan legislature from Detroit’s automotive industry, finding innovation solutions to ensure Michigan remains competitive as the industry evolves to electric and self-driving vehicles during the mobility movement.
Ranjeev is the first person of color to represent the 24tht district, and the first Sikh-American in Michigan’s legislative history. Ranjeev is fighting for a more inclusive and better Michigan in which we can all be proud to call home, regardless of background or belief. Ranjeev is the son of immigrants, and lives in Canton, with his wife and three young children.
Winnie Brinks
Senator | Grand Rapids, MI
Sen. Winnie Brinks is the first woman to represent Grand Rapids in the Michigan Senate since Eva McCall Hamilton was elected in 1920. She has worked tirelessly to protect our drinking water from toxic PFAS contamination, create jobs, ensure every child has access to a world-class education and honor our state’s debt to our veterans. She also championed and passed legislation to repeal the “tampon tax” in Michigan and has successfully advocated for improvements in maternal health policy through both legislation and the appropriations process.
Senator Brinks remains focused on real solutions to problems Michiganders face, and in particular, looks to promote policy initiatives that would benefit the ALICE population, and support our educators and students. She and her husband Steve, a Spanish teacher, live in Grand Rapids and are the parents of three incredible daughters, Olivia, Annalise, and Emma.
Rosalynn Bliss
Former Mayor | Grand Rapids, MI
Mallory McMorrow
Senator | Detroit, MI
State Senator Mallory McMorrow works every day to increase Michigan’s competitiveness by supporting what makes our state unique – our people, unparalleled history of manufacturing and innovation, and our Great Lakes.
Since taking office in 2019, she’s led the push to lean in on mobility, electrification, and the evolution of Michigan’s signature automotive industry. She’s been vocal on the need to evolve economic development to be more holistic and comprehensive – ensuring that incentives used don’t just benefit companies, but Michiganders. And as a new mom herself, she’s lending voice and policy to empower women and families in the workforce.
Rebecca Perkins Kwoka
Senator | Rockingham, NH
Rebecca Perkins Kwoka currently serves in the NH State Senate, after making history last year as the first openly LGBTQ woman elected to the legislative body. She previously served two terms on Portsmouth City Council and spent over a decade in affordable housing advocacy, resulting in successful, comprehensive zoning changes during her tenue as a City Councilor. As Senator, Kwoka has made supporting working families and small businesses her top priority. She led efforts to pass legislation that expands housing and rental assistance and provides COVID relief for independent live venues and newly-opened small businesses. Kwoka also pushed for bills to invest in offshore wind energy and mandate a sufficient space and break period for nursing mothers in the workplace.
In addition to her legislative work, Kwoka is also Senior Vice President and General Counsel at ReWild Renewables, a small solar company based in her home City of Portsmouth. She lives there with her wife, Katelyn, and their daughter, Logan.
Garlin Gilchrist
Lieutenant Governor | MI
Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist has dedicated his career to fixing problems for hardworking families. From spearheading campaigns for equality and justice to harnessing technology to solve everyday problems for Detroiters, his focus has consistently remained on serving the public by getting things done.
Bringing Michigan’s state government fully into the 21st century is a top priority for Lt. Governor Gilchrist. He brings a lifetime of experience to the task, receiving his first computer at age five and setting up a computer lab in the community recreation center using computers that he built himself at age 16. Lt. Governor Gilchrist studied computer engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan, graduating with honors, and later had a successful career as a software engineer at Microsoft, helping to build SharePoint into the fastest growing product in the company’s history.
During his time in Seattle, Gilchrist served as Social Media Manager for the 2008 Obama campaign in Washington, where he helped launch a national text message program to recruit volunteers. He later served as the first Director of New Media at the Center for Community Change in Washington, D.C., and spent three years as National Campaign Director at MoveOn.org, where he spearheaded equity and justice campaigns, including fighting to expand Medicaid in states with Republican governors, like Michigan.
This eventually led to his serving as the first ever Director of Innovation & Emerging Technology for the city of Detroit, where he used public data and technology to address every day concerns the community was facing – including an app to report issues such as broken fire hydrants, potholes and broken street lights. This mindset of harnessing technology to solve problems will play a critical role in finding solutions to improve the lives of people across the state.
Marko Liias
Senator | Lynwood, WA
Sen. Marko Liias represents the communities of the 21st Legislative District, which includes neighborhoods in Edmonds, Everett, Lynnwood, and Mukilteo. In January 2008, Marko was appointed to the House of Representatives and served for six years. Then, in 2014, he was appointed to the Senate. Throughout his service in the Legislature, Marko has focused on policies to advance a strong economy based on good-paying jobs, a safe and quality education system, and a balanced transportation system that serves the whole community, including Sound Transit 3. Working across the aisle, Marko was a principal negotiator of bipartisan agreements on the largest transportation investment in state history and the most progressive paid family and medical leave program in the nation.
Marko has sponsored legislation that has improved pedestrian and bicycle safety as well as multiple bills that have introduced digital citizenship in our schools. Those bills, which have made him a national leader on the issue, direct schools to include curricula that helps students better understand and navigate the many pitfalls of the digital age. Recently Marko championed the Student Loan Bill of Rights, which would protect college students from predatory and fraudulent loan practices, and legislation to prohibit physically and mentally abusive so-called conversion therapy. Among Marko’s 2020 Legislative accomplishments is the VOTE (Voting Opportunities Through Education) Act, which will automatically pre-register 16- and 17-year-olds, allow 17-year-olds to vote in the primary election if they are 18 by the general election, and create Student Engagement Hubs on college campus for civic education and to reduce barriers to voting.