Bobby Joe Champion: Minnesota’s first Black senate president, called to serve

When Sen. Bobby Joe Champion reflects on his journey, from a young boy in north Minneapolis to becoming the first Black president of the Minnesota Senate, he doesn’t begin with policy victories. He begins with community.

Born in 1963, Champion is the fifth of six children. His parents migrated from the South. His mother from Hooks, Texas, and his father from Hope, Arkansas, with hopes of building a better life and expanding opportunities for Black families. They carried with them a belief in civil rights, dignity and collective progress. In north Minneapolis, they found and helped cultivate a neighborhood where cultures intertwined and where community was not just a place but a promise.

The north side of Champion’s childhood was evolving from a predominantly Jewish neighborhood into a diverse, multicultural mosaic. Black, Latino, Indigenous and Jewish families lived side by side. Although discriminatory housing policies and city planning labeled the area “the ghetto,” residents defined it differently. Neighbors looked after one another, and respect crossed fences and faith traditions.

“Through that lens, you got a chance to understand not just our history as African Americans, but how history was tied to other people’s history,” Champion said. “That personal experience allowed me to understand what true community is all about.”

Champion’s sense of justice first sparked while watching “Perry Mason,” the TV series about a defense attorney fighting for the wrongly accused. He became fascinated with the power of voice, and the courage required to stand with vulnerable people.

Music also shaped his understanding of unity. As a teenager, he co-founded the Grammy-nominated Excelsior Choir, an experience he calls a master class in leadership. Directing the choir taught him that harmony is created not by one dominant voice but by many voices learning to move together. He learned when to lead, when to step back and how trust can turn individual notes into something greater than the sum of their parts.

After law school, Champion carried those lessons into the Legal Rights Center, where he defended people accused of serious crimes and insisted on fairness, due process and equal access to justice. Those values would guide him when he entered politics. He won his first legislative seat in 2008, joined the Minnesota Senate in 2012 and, in 2023, made history as its first Black president.

His legislative work has centered on family, equity and opportunity. He co-authored the Minnesota African American Family Preservation and Child Welfare Disproportionality Act, a landmark effort to strengthen families and address racial inequities in the child welfare system. He has advocated closing racial disparities in housing, education and wealth, calling stable housing and homeownership essential to economic empowerment. As a founding member of the United Black Legislative Caucus, he has worked to elevate voices that are often left out of policymaking.

For Champion, becoming “the first” was less about individual achievement than responsibility. “Because in order for there to be a second, someone has to be a trailblazer,” he said. He acknowledges the emotional weight of that role: centuries of underestimation, narratives questioning Black intellectual capacity and persistent doubts imposed by society. But he also knows that every first widens the path for those who follow.

Champion never set out to run for office. In fact, he resisted it. But community members urged him forward, saying his fairness, steadiness and temperament were needed. He had already been the first in his family to attend college and the first to earn a law degree. Stepping into public service without a blueprint felt familiar. He eventually said yes; not for a title, but for the people of District 59, who trusted him to represent them.

That guiding belief, that leadership begins with service, shapes Champion’s connection to the teachings of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. King, he said, remains consequential not only for his speeches but for his understanding of collective action.

“He does nothing alone,” Champion said, noting that true leadership is rooted in service, humility and human connection. King taught that greatness is not defined by comfort or accolades, but by how we respond in moments of challenge.

“If you want to be great, serve,” Champion said, echoing King’s message that the measure of a life is its impact on others.

Champion often describes life as a hyphen; the space between the day we are born and the day we leave. “What did you do while you were here?” he asks. To him, the substance of a life is not longevity but purpose: the courage to confront inequity, the compassion to uplift others and the commitment to strengthen community.

He sees King’s vision alive in the unfinished work before Minnesota today: closing gaps in wealth, education, health and opportunity; ensuring every child grows up in a stable home; and creating a state where every community can flourish. Guided by his belief in humanity, Champion says progress is possible when people lead with unity and shared purpose.

In the hyphen of our lives, he reminds us we are bound together, and our truest legacy, our echo of unity, is measured by how we lift others along the way.

Alaysia Lane is a multimedia journalist and commerce writer based in Minneapolis