Jen McEwen

Senator Jen McEwen represents Duluth in the Minnesota State Senate. She serves as the Chair of the Senate Labor Committee, Vice Chair of the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Legacy Finance Committee, and is a member of the Senate Transportation Committee and the Senate Energy Committee. She is a founding member of the legislature’s Minnesota Health Plan Caucus, which advocates for universal public health care coverage for all Minnesotans regardless of employment status. 

She is also a founding member of the legislature’s Reproductive Freedom Caucus, and was the lead author of the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act that codified the legal right to an abortion in Minnesota state statutes. This fortified reproductive rights in Minnesota as federal rights and protections were taken away. 

Jen spearheaded and led the 2023 Omnibus Labor package, hailed as transformational for unions and workers in Minnesota, and included banning captive audience meetings, voiding non-compete clauses, expanding teacher bargaining power, extending earned sick and safe time to every Minnesota worker, and strengthening common sense worker safety laws, among a number of other initiatives.

She also successfully established a massive funding initiative for the statewide replacement of all residential lead service lines in Minnesota, and led the Senate in correcting a historical wrong by finally allowing hourly school workers like kitchen staff, bus drivers, and paraprofessionals to receive unemployment insurance when they are laid off. 

Prior to serving in the Minnesota Senate, Jen served as an attorney representing workers with disability claims against insurance companies and served as board chair of the Damiano Center.

Vision -- Passion -- Integrity