BUILDING A BETTER DULUTH. TOGETHER.
Early Voting is now open!
Election Day is Tuesday, November 7.
Seven years ago, Duluth chose our vision for a healthy, prosperous, sustainable, fair, and inclusive community. Every day since, we’ve worked to achieve that vision. We laid out big goals. We got things done. And together, we’ve made real progress.
But elections aren’t about what’s been done — they are about our future and where we are headed next. We’re calling our campaign “Building a Better Duluth.” Our goal is a thriving and inclusive community where all residents feel seen, safe, heard, and valued. We can only do this together.
OUR PRIORITIES
We want our city to be a place where everyone has what they need and we all feel safe. So we’re Building a Better Duluth — a thriving, prosperous community for all of our neighbors across all of our neighborhoods.
This is our plan, and these are our priorities.
Every single business, employer, and worker matters, and we need a robust and diverse workforce and business community…
Everyone has a right to a safe and affordable place to call their home, and businesses need appropriate housing for workers in order to grow…
Feeling safe and secure is core to a thriving and prosperous community; it’s required to build a community that cares about each other…
Duluth isn’t just a place that people live; it’s a unique community where people choose to build a life…
Streets, water, steam, sewer, stormwater, and internet are all systems that we need to work for us every day for us to thrive as a community…
Repeated climate-impacted weather events have buffeted our community and remind us of the very real costs of the changing climate…
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Emily first discovered Duluth at the age of five, on her first and only family vacation. At age 17, she moved here permanently, attending St. Scholastica on a scholarship, and later earned her master’s degree from UMD. Before becoming Mayor, she worked professionally as a social worker, grant writer and non-profit organizational leader, and owned three businesses with her husband - Wagner Zaun Architecture, Amazing Grace Bakery, and her own consultancy.
Emily lives in the Hillside neighborhood with her husband Doug Zaun, in the same home where they raised their two grown and very tall sons. She is an avid, but slow trail runner, dedicated yogi, periodic rock climber, and at one time a very mediocre U8 soccer coach.
When not working at City Hall or sitting at home admiring Lake Superior, Emily can be found reading, tending to her many houseplants, camping, or talking to her sister on the phone.
Mayor Larson has a career of service, which includes time on boards, commissions, appointments, and elected offices. She was first elected and served as At-Large Duluth City Councilor from 2011-2015, where she served as liaison to Parks & Libraries, Commissioner on the Duluth’s Economic Development Authority, and on the boards of the Great Lakes Aquarium and Area Regional Development Commissions.
Emily was elected Mayor of Duluth in November 2015 and re-elected by a wide margin in 2019. In her first term, Mayor Larson was appointed to the statewide Governor’s Housing Task Force and the Young Women’s Initiative of Minnesota. She also served as a board member to the Greater Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, Great Lakes and St Lawrence Seaway Cities Initiative and Minnesota Sea Grant. Additionally, in her second term she was elected by national membership to be a Board Member on the National League of Cities, after first serving as its Federal Policy Chair for Energy, Environment and Natural Resources.
In pre-elected life, Emily served on the boards of LifeHouse, Center City Housing, YMCA, and YWCA.
GET INVOLVED
We invite you to join us to help grow this shared vision of community and continue Building a Better Duluth, Together. Thank you!
Let us know your address for a YARD SIGN or join us at a VOLUNTEER EVENT every week from now until election day!