Bobby Joe Champion (born December 17, 1963) is an American attorney and politician serving as a member of the

Minnesota Senate The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any U.S. state legislature. Floor sessions are hel ...

. A member of the

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is the Minnesota affiliate of the U.S. Democratic Party. As of 2022, it controls four of Minnesota's eight U.S. House seats, both of its U.S. Senate seats, the Minnesota House of Represen ...

(DFL), he represents the 59th district, which includes portions of downtown and north

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Hennepin County Hennepin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its county seat is Minneapolis, the state's most populous city. The county is named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. The county extends from Minneapol ...

. He is the incumbent

President of the Minnesota Senate The president of the Minnesota Senate is the presiding officer of the Minnesota Senate. Until 1973, the Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota served as the Senate president. Since then, presidents have been elected by the body, usually at the nominatio ...

Early life and education

Champion was born in

and graduated from Minneapolis North High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from

Macalester College Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S te ...

and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

William Mitchell College of Law William Mitchell College of Law was a private, independent law school located in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States, from 1956 to 2015. Accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), it offered full- and part-time legal education in pursuit of ...

Career

Champion worked as an assistant

Minnesota attorney general The attorney general of Minnesota is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of the U.S. State of Minnesota. Thirty individuals have held the office of Attorney General since statehood. The incumbent is Keith Ellison, a DFLer. Electi ...

under

Skip Humphrey Hubert Horatio "Skip" Humphrey III (born June 26, 1942) is an American retired politician who served as attorney general of the state of Minnesota (1983–99) and State Senator (1973–83). Humphrey led the Office of Older Americans as the assi ...

and

Mike Hatch Michael Alan Hatch (born November 12, 1948) is an American politician and lawyer. He was the Attorney General of Minnesota from 1999 to 2007, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Commerce from 1983 to 1989, and chair of the Minnesota DF ...

, and as an attorney for a legal rights center. He also worked with Flyte Tyme Productions and was co-founder and director of the

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

-nominated Excelsior Choir. He was executive director of the Midwest chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors and program director for Social Spaces with Stairstep Initiative.

Minnesota House of Representatives

Champion was elected to the House in 2008, unseating first-term incumbent Augustine Dominguez. He was reelected in 2010.

Minnesota Senate

In November 2012, Champion was elected to the

, defeating

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Jim Lilly by a margin of 82%–18%. Champion was reelected to the Minnesota Senate in 2016, defeating challenger

Jennifer Carnahan Jennifer Carnahan (born 1976) is an American politician who served as the chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota from 2017 to 2021. On March 14, 2022, she declared her candidacy for a special election in Minnesota's 1st congressional distric ...

. Champion was also re-elected in 2020 and 2022. In 2022, he was chosen to serve as president of the Senate by his caucus; he is expected to be formally elected when the Senate meets in January 2023.

References

External links

Senator Bobby Joe Champion
''official Minnesota Senate website''
Project Votesmart - Rep. Bobby Joe Champion Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Champion, Bobby Joe 1963 births 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American politicians African-American state legislators in Minnesota Democratic Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives Democratic Party Minnesota state senators Lawyers from Minneapolis Living people Macalester College alumni Politicians from Minneapolis William Mitchell College of Law alumni