Miranda Pacheco announces a run for Duluth City Council

On Monday, addiction counselor Miranda Pacheco announced she is running for a Duluth City Council At-Large seat. Pacheco made the announcement outside at the Gichi-ode’ Akiing Park, surrounded by her supporters.

Pacheco said she moved to Duluth for treatment from drug addiction, and has built a life here. She is now a counselor for those who are dealing with addiction.

“I’m running because there are people who feel hopeless. You know, people in recovery, just because we’ve had a past, just because we’ve made some mistakes in the past, doesn’t mean that we don’t belong in these spaces,” Pacheco said.

In a statement issued earlier in the day, Pacheco said:

I’m Miranda Pacheco, and I’m running for Duluth City Council At Large.

It was in Duluth that I turned my life around. I came here a high school dropout, an addict, and a convicted felon. I moved to Duluth to attend a drug treatment center and briefly lived at AICHO’s domestic violence shelter, and I later went on to work at both of those places. In Duluth I also connected with my roots and started attending Ojibwe ceremonies, and I met and was adopted by Skip and Babette Sandman. I earned my associate degree from Fond du Lac Tribal College, and I’m earning a Social Work degree from St. Scholastica.

While I beat the odds, I have seen the ways that we are failing people in need. My brother could not get the care he needed, and we lost him to suicide three years ago. When members of our community are lost to deaths of despair, when they turn to crime, or when they are forced out onto the street, we all suffer.

I believe we can do better.

Listening to people is the most important thing we can do to make effective changes, and I believe in doing the hard work to get it done. This is what I will bring to all issues before the city council, from supporting our most vulnerable to addressing potholes. Every day I am fighting for people, and every day I am giving back to the city that gave me life.

Duluth, I am asking for your support to become your City Councilor.