Amber Fellows, a decades-long resident of Ypsilanti and activist, is on the Nov. 5 ballot for a seat on Ypsilanti City Council in Ward 3, which includes the majority of Eastern Michigan University.
Fellows won her spot on the ballot in a close primary win on Aug. 6 against current city council member Evan Sweet. Sweet was appointed to the role of council member in December 2022 to fill a short-term vacancy and then reappointed in January 2023.
According to Washtenaw County’s unofficial candidate list for Nov. 5, Fellows is set to have one opponent — Libertarian Mark Alan King.
Fellows is running on a platform that focuses on bringing transparency to the city council, making housing more accessible for people in the city and seeking environmental justice.
As a former renter, and now homeowner, in Ypsilanti, Fellows identifies themselves closely to the people in the community around them, and even on the city council. But they also acknowledge some differences between themselves and their potential new co-workers.
“I think what’s really different is a theory of change,” Fellows said. “I come from the perspective of ‘the processes that exist are giving us bad results.’”
Another goal of Fellows’ is to increase Ypsilanti resident participation in their local government. This could be done through surveying the residents of the city, adding more proposals and offices to the city ballot and updating the city charter, Fellows said.
Fellows won the Aug. 6 primary by just 10 votes, and as Fellows’ opportunity for a seat on the council nears, she is preparing for the possibility that she will get the job.
Fellows, who also ran for mayor of Ypsilanti in 2022, thanked the people who helped them in that campaign and this year’s.
“All the canvassing, all the work then, also to me, is really not about one person like myself, but a lot of people working together,” Fellows said.
The community of Ypsilanti is the reason for the work that Fellows does.
“It’s for the people,” Fellows said. “This [town] is a very special place.”
For more information on Amber Fellows’ campaign for office, you can visit her website amber4thepeople.com or follow @amber4thepeople on social media.
