Richard Carlbom
Richard Carlbom is an American politician serving since 2025 as the chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. The former mayor of St. Joseph and a onetime campaign manager for Tim Walz, he rose to statewide prominence when he led the campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in Minnesota from 2011 to 2013.
Early life and education
Carlbom graduated from Saint John's University with a bachelor's degree in political science in 2004.Career
Mayor of Saint Joseph
At 23 years old, a few months after his graduation from Saint John's, Carlbom was elected mayor of Saint Joseph, Minnesota in 2004. He served for 2 years and resigned five months into his second term to work for Tim Walz, then the representative for Minnesota's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.Walz congressional campaign
Carlbom found a career in campaigns and communications following his time as mayor. He worked with Walz's 2008 and 2010 campaigns, serving as his campaign manager in 2010. Following that campaign work, was the Communications Director for Saint Paul mayor Chris Coleman.Same-sex marriage activism
In 2011, both houses of the Minnesota Legislature passed a bill introducing a ballot measure for a constitutional amendment that would have outlawed same-sex marriage in Minnesota. Shortly thereafter, Minnesota LGBTQ+ rights organizations OutFront Minnesota and Project 515 formed Minnesotans United for All Families, a campaign against the amendment. Carlbom, who was engaged to his now-husband two weeks before the amendment made it through the legislature, was selected to chair the campaign. The "Vote No" campaign was successful: voters rejected the amendment with a 51% majority.After the marriage ban passed, Carlbom began work with Minnesotans United on legislation to legalize same-sex marriage in the Minnesota Legislature. The organization spent $2 million lobbying for the bill, which was sponsored by Scott Dibble in the Senate and Karen Clark in the House. The bill passed in both houses and was signed into law by Governor Mark Dayton on March 14, 2013.
Following his work in Minnesota, Carlbom became the director of state campaigns for the nonprofit Freedom to Marry.