Representative Esther Agbaje Contact information

Esther Agbaje, born on March 19, 1985, is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2021. She is a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) and represents District 59B, which includes portions of north and downtown Minneapolis in Hennepin County, Minnesota.

Agbaje was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to parents who immigrated to Minnesota from Nigeria. She grew up in Brainerd and Faribault, and graduated from Shattuck-St. Mary’s Boarding School. She graduated from George Washington University with a bachelor of arts in political science, the University of Pennsylvania with a master of public administration, and Harvard University with a juris doctor.

As a law student, she worked at Harvard’s Legal Aid Bureau and volunteered for Volunteer Lawyers Network Housing Court Project. Before law school, Agbaje worked at the United States Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer focusing on the Middle East. She is an associate attorney with Ciresi Conlin LLP, where she practices in general civil litigation and medical malpractice. She also did pro bono work helping renters dealing with housing insecurity and evictions.

Agbaje was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2020 and reelected in 2022. She challenged four-term DFL incumbent Raymond Dehn, winning the DFL endorsement and defeating Dehn in the primary election. Agbaje serves as vice chair of the Housing Finance and Policy Committee, and sits on the Elections Finance and Policy, Taxes, and Ways and Means Committees. She has served as an assistant majority leader since 2023.

Agbaje co-chairs the House People of Color & Indigenous (POCI) Caucus and is vice chair of the Black Maternal Health Caucus. Agbaje has called for greater investment in housing, calling housing a human right, and authored a bill that would provide $45 million in funding to Minneapolis to repair affordable housing units. As vice chair of the Housing Committee, Agbaje authored many tenant protection provisions contained in the final housing budget, saying expungement of eviction filings was her top concern due to its impact on people’s ability to find housing.