Chris Coleman (politician)
Encyclopedia
Christopher "Chris" B. Coleman (born September 1, 1961) is a Minnesota
politician and the mayor of St. Paul. He defeated incumbent mayor Randy Kelly
in 2005 and took office on January 3, 2006.
, as the son of Bridget Finnegan and Nicholas Coleman, Sr.
, who served as state senate majority leader from 1973 to 1981. His brother Nick Coleman
is a columnist
for the Minneapolis Star Tribune
, and their stepmother, Deborah Howell
, was an editor for the Minneapolis Star and the St. Paul Pioneer Press
and an ombudsman for The Washington Post
. He is no relation to former mayor and U.S. Senator
Norm Coleman
.
Coleman attended the University of Minnesota
as both an undergraduate and law student. He then worked for eight years in Hennepin County
as a public defender
and prosecutor
. Proposals to build a metal shredder along the Mississippi River
in Saint Paul inspired his first run for the Saint Paul City Council. Coleman represented Saint Paul's Ward 2 from 1997 to 2003. While on the city council he was also an investment management consultant specializing in nonprofit organizations and endowments for RBC Dain Rauscher. He was also president of United Family Practice Medical Center.
Coleman unsuccessfully sought the Democratic-Farmer-Labor
(DFL) nomination for the United States House of Representatives
seat in Minnesota's 4th congressional district
in 2000. Betty McCollum
won both the nomination and the seat.
, John Kerry
, and Bill Richardson visited St. Paul to campaign for Coleman, while Hillary Clinton and John Edwards
actively supported him. Coleman defeated Kelly in the general election, 69% to 31%.
Shortly after taking office, Coleman signed a city ordinance banning
tobacco
smoking in all bars and restaurants within city limits. The ban had long been opposed by former mayor Kelly.
Coleman is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition
, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City
mayor Michael Bloomberg
and Boston
mayor Thomas Menino
.
Coleman worked with Minneapolis mayor R. T. Rybak
in bids to host a national party convention. St. Paul was selected as the site of the 2008 Republican National Convention
.
In 2009, Coleman was elected to a second term. He again received 69% of the general election vote. Eva Ng received 31%.
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
politician and the mayor of St. Paul. He defeated incumbent mayor Randy Kelly
Randy Kelly
Randy Cameron Kelly is an American politician and the former mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party ....
in 2005 and took office on January 3, 2006.
Family and early career
Chris Coleman was born in Saint Paul, MinnesotaSaint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
, as the son of Bridget Finnegan and Nicholas Coleman, Sr.
Nick Coleman
This article is about the Minnesota politician. For the former Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist, see: Nick ColemanNicholas David "Nick" Coleman was a Minnesota politician and a former member and majority leader of the Minnesota Senate. A Democrat, he was first elected in 1962 and reelected in...
, who served as state senate majority leader from 1973 to 1981. His brother Nick Coleman
Nick Coleman (columnist)
Disambiguation: for the Minnesota politician, see Nicholas D. Coleman.Nicholas J. Coleman is a veteran Minnesota journalist and columnist for the Star Tribune, the daily newspaper published in Minneapolis, Minnesota...
is a columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
for the Minneapolis Star Tribune
Star Tribune
The Star Tribune is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is published seven days each week in an edition for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. A statewide version is also available across Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The...
, and their stepmother, Deborah Howell
Deborah Howell
Deborah Howell was a long-time newswoman and editor who served for three years as the ombudsman for The Washington Post.Howell is a Board Member In Memoriam at the IWMF ....
, was an editor for the Minneapolis Star and the St. Paul Pioneer Press
St. Paul Pioneer Press
The St. Paul Pioneer Press is a newspaper based in St. Paul, Minnesota, primarily serving the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Circulation is heaviest in the eastern metro region, including Ramsey, Dakota, and Washington counties, along with western Wisconsin, eastern Minnesota and Anoka County,...
and an ombudsman for The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
. He is no relation to former mayor and U.S. Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Norm Coleman
Norm Coleman
Norman Bertram Coleman, Jr. is an American attorney and politician. He was a United States senator from Minnesota from 2003 to 2009. Coleman was elected in 2002 and served in the 108th, 109th, and 110th Congresses. Before becoming a senator, he was mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, from 1994 to 2002...
.
Coleman attended the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
as both an undergraduate and law student. He then worked for eight years in Hennepin County
Hennepin County, Minnesota
Hennepin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota, named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. As of 2010 the population was 1,152,425. Its county seat is Minneapolis. It is by far the most populous county in Minnesota; more than one in five Minnesotans live...
as a public defender
Public defender
The term public defender is primarily used to refer to a criminal defense lawyer appointed to represent people charged with a crime but who cannot afford to hire an attorney in the United States and Brazil. The term is also applied to some ombudsman offices, for example in Jamaica, and is one way...
and prosecutor
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
. Proposals to build a metal shredder along the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
in Saint Paul inspired his first run for the Saint Paul City Council. Coleman represented Saint Paul's Ward 2 from 1997 to 2003. While on the city council he was also an investment management consultant specializing in nonprofit organizations and endowments for RBC Dain Rauscher. He was also president of United Family Practice Medical Center.
Coleman unsuccessfully sought the Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is a major political party in the state of Minnesota and the state affiliate of the Democratic Party. It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party...
(DFL) nomination for the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
seat in Minnesota's 4th congressional district
Minnesota's 4th congressional district
Minnesota's 4th congressional district covers Ramsey County including all of St. Paul and several St. Paul suburbs. The district is solidly Democratic with a CPVI of D + 13. It is currently represented by Betty McCollum, of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.-List of...
in 2000. Betty McCollum
Betty McCollum
Betty Louise McCollum is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2001. She is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party ....
won both the nomination and the seat.
Mayorship
Coleman ran in the 2005 St. Paul mayoral election, challenging the DFL incumbent, Randy Kelly. Kelly had alienated supporters with his endorsement of George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election, and national Democratic figures endorsed Coleman. Wesley ClarkWesley Clark
Wesley Kanne Clark, Sr., is a retired general of the United States Army. Graduating as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and later graduated from the...
, John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
, and Bill Richardson visited St. Paul to campaign for Coleman, while Hillary Clinton and John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
actively supported him. Coleman defeated Kelly in the general election, 69% to 31%.
Shortly after taking office, Coleman signed a city ordinance banning
Smoking ban
Smoking bans are public policies, including criminal laws and occupational safety and health regulations, which prohibit tobacco smoking in workplaces and/or other public spaces...
tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
smoking in all bars and restaurants within city limits. The ban had long been opposed by former mayor Kelly.
Coleman is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition
Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition
Mayors Against Illegal Guns is a coalition of over 600 mayors who support a number of gun control initiatives that the group calls "commonsense reforms" to fight illegal gun trafficking and gun violence in the United States...
, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
mayor Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
and Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
mayor Thomas Menino
Thomas Menino
Thomas Michael "Tom" Menino is the mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, United States and the city's first Italian-American mayor...
.
Coleman worked with Minneapolis mayor R. T. Rybak
R. T. Rybak
Raymond Thomas Rybak, Jr. , known as R. T. Rybak, is the 46th and current mayor of the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the 2001 election Rybak defeated incumbent Sharon Sayles Belton by a margin of 65% to 35%; the widest margin in city history for a challenge to an incumbent...
in bids to host a national party convention. St. Paul was selected as the site of the 2008 Republican National Convention
2008 Republican National Convention
The United States 2008 Republican National Convention took place at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from September 1, through September 4, 2008...
.
In 2009, Coleman was elected to a second term. He again received 69% of the general election vote. Eva Ng received 31%.
2010 Governor's Race
In 2009 Coleman announced he would make a bid for the DFL nomination for Governor of Minnesota in the 2010 election. After receiving relatively little support he quickly dropped out before 2010.External links
- Chris Coleman Official City website