Mike Mayou's running points for his second Duluth City Council bid
Photo courtesy of Mike Mayou
UMD graduate Mike Mayou has once again announced his candidacy for Duluth City Council.
Mayou’s first campaign in 2019 sought the seat of Councilor At Large and ended up losing the election. This time around, he is campaigning for Duluth’s Second Council District to fill the seat of Joel Sipress, who is stepping down.
“I’m proud to have his support,” Mayou said. “It was really great to have him at our announcement … Joel has done a really great job over the past eight years of representing the second district and being very responsive to pretty much any concern.”
Mayou stressed responsiveness as a trait that he too wishes to embody if he were to be elected.
“I really don’t think there is an issue that’s small enough to not address,” Mayou said. “Whether it’s a sidewalk that’s not being shoveled, or it’s a pothole in your street or whatever it is, any of those issues you can come to me and I’ll help you address it.”
A second campaign from Mayou for a different city council seat brings with it other variables from his 2019 campaign during his final year at UMD.
“Back in 2019, obviously running as kind of an insurgent campaign, I’d say we had a lot of energy,” Mayou said. “We had to build that name recognition. I think that was one of the biggest things for me in particular. Coming into this year, definitely having that name recognition is huge.”
Between his last campaign and now, Mayou’s campaign platform remains unchanged despite all of the trials and tribulations that 2020 brought.
“I think mostly it’s just made it more obvious why we need to really push for a lot of these changes,” Mayou said. “Some of the changes that I was proposing, you know, some people might have thought were radical back in 2019.”
Mayou went on to describe specific, contemporary policies that are at the forefront of his campaign.
“A lot of people struggled throughout this past year, and I think it’s really shown how things like Medicare for all and renters’ protections and fighting for social justice,” Mayou said. “The NAACP in Duluth just released a plan that they would like the Duluth Police Department’s rates of arrest to be proportional with the percentage of population in Duluth, because right now, the rates of arrest of people of color are significantly higher than the percentage of the population.”
Mayou also cited multiple aspects of environmental sustainability as important ideals to him and his vision for Duluth.
“We have a plastic bag ban that just passed the Duluth City Council and got delayed a little bit,” Mayou said. “We also have a climate emergency resolution that’s maybe gonna be proposed to the Duluth City Council here within the next year.”
Mayou also expressed interest in reaching a mark of 80% reliance on renewable energy in Duluth by 2035. Equal to that of environmental sustainability was Mayou’s commitment to issues concerning affordable housing in Duluth.
“Having grown up in Duluth and also having gone to UMD, I understand what it’s like to be a renter,” Mayou said. “I understand what it’s like to be a student. I understand what it’s like to have parents who grew up in a neighborhood in Duluth and had to pay property taxes … how are we going to collaborate between the renter and homeowner population in the second district in particular? I think I am uniquely suited to kind of approach that issue in particular, and there’s a lot of discussion I think that can be had on how to bring those two communities together in particular.”
Duluth’s primary elections begin Aug. 10, and the general election is on Nov. 2. Nobody else has announced candidacy for the position Mayou seeks.