Betsy Hodges

Elizabeth A. Hodges (born September 7, 1969) is an American politician who served as the 47th Mayor of Minneapolis from 2014 to 2018. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), she represented Ward 13 on the Minneapolis City Council from 2006 January 2014. Hodges was reelected to the city council in the 2009 municipal election. She won the 2013 mayoral election and was inaugurated on January 2, 2014. She ran for reelection in 2017, but lost to fellow Democrat Jacob Frey. She left office on January 2, 2018. Early life and education Hodges grew up in Wayzata, Minnesota. She graduated from Wayzata High School in 1987. After graduating from Bryn Mawr College in 1991, she attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, graduating in 1998 with a master's degree in sociology. Kaneaster Hodges Jr. was her uncle. Career Hodges moved to southwest Minneapolis in 1998 and was the development director for the Minneapolis-based nonprofit Progressive Minnesota for a few years before serving on the staff of Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman. Hodges returned to fundraising work in 2003, working for the Minnesota Justice Foundation.