HAVING A BEER WITH

WRITTEN BY: MEGHAN FEIR • PHOTOS BY: URBAN TOAD MEDIA

While most native Midwesterners woefully threaten to move south due to the long, drawn-out and brutal winters, the mayor of Moorhead, Minn., is thankful for the cooler temperatures. Originally from Raleigh, N.C., Johnathan Judd moved to North Dakota and began attending Fargo North as a senior in high school to live with his best friend’s family and experience something new for a year.

It’s been 28 years since he made that decision, and he hasn’t looked back. With a wife, three kids, friends and a successful career as mayor and M-State’s new director of equity and inclusion, it’s clear his roots have grown deep into the Minnesota soil.

We sat down in Drekker’s Brewhalla for a little chat and a brew as he told me more about the direction his life has taken, from poverty to opportunity. Read on to learn more about Moorhead’s mayor. 14 / THE GOOD LIFE / urbantoadmedia.com

Good Life: What have you thought of this area since moving up here? Obviously, it’s extremely different climate-wise, the terrain—everything.

Johnathan Judd: The people. When I went to Fargo North my senior year, the families were awesome and just welcomed me. I felt like I was home. Obviously, it took time to adjust, but the people helped build me up to where I am today. That’s why I stayed. And I hate hot weather. I’d rather be cold than hot.

GL: Did you ever think you’d get into politics?

JJ: I always thought I’d work in a campaign, like as a strategist or something, but as the actual candidate, no. Although my aunt tells me I said at some point that I’d be governor of North Carolina.

JJ: I was once in an FMCT play. The name of the play was Sacagawea. I played a character that helped row the boats for Lewis and Clark.

GL: Has that prompted you to want to hone your acting skills?

JJ: No. I’ll leave that to my daughter and son. My daughter is into drama and theatre and music, and my youngest is involved in theatre now, too. I have three children, and they’re all finding their own niche and what they want to get involved in. I didn’t have those opportunities. I was a poor kid. I wouldn’t say my life was hard, but it wasn’t easy. My mom had me at a young age and I didn’t get to see her a lot. My grandparents stepped in as parents. They are at the foundation of where I am today. I knew where the next meal was coming from, but we never had excess.

I work as hard as I do to ensure my children and kids and families in the community have those opportunities and the ability to dream and bring their dreams into reality.

GL: How do you think living in poverty has shaped how you raise your own kids?

JJ: I try to show my kids that you’re only one generation from poverty. I’m teaching my kids to be humble. It’s mandatory in our family to volunteer. They volunteer at church and in the community. I want them to understand that in the blink of an eye our whole situation could change. We’re no better than anyone else.

GL: Of all the places you’ve visited or lived, what’s your favorite place and why?

JJ: When you’re on vacation, you only see the good in the places, but I really like the Seattle vibe. I like cities on water. I like what I see as laid-back, chill environments. I like that they have diversity and culture. I also like northern Minnesota. I’d like to have a place up there for the summers when I retire and a place in North Carolina for the cold season, so we can go hiking in the woods.

GL: If you could make one vegetable go extinct, which would you choose?

JJ: Probably the radish. What’s the point? I don’t know why it exists. It has no flavor.

“It’s relaxing to just check out and watch my kids be great at something, whether in theatre or sports. I love getting to see them enjoying themselves." – Mayor Johnathan Judd

GL: Do you have any life quotes?

JJ: Be the change you want to see in the world.

GL: What’s one example of so-called common sense you wish were more common? For example, I wish people would use their dang turn signals.

GL: What’s one of your favorite ways to relax?

JJ: Honestly, I need to learn how to relax better, but I love watching my children. It’s relaxing to just check out and watch my kids be great at something, whether in theatre or sports. I love getting to see them enjoying themselves. It doesn’t get any better than that. It’s what I wish my mom had the opportunity to do, but she was always working. I cherish the moments where I can watch my kids be great and learn. I love being able to golf with my kids and just hang out with them, too, and I love when I can go out with my wife and talk over a beer. That’s a great time.

JJ: What’s really important to me is trust, loyalty and integrity, but you get so busy in life that you take it for granted. We live in a world right now where there’s so much going on. We’re too busy. We have a lot of things going on. But you need to be able to have somebody tell you not only when you’re right but when you’re wrong. You can’t have a friendship or a relationship with someone unless you have trust, loyalty and integrity.

GL: What does living the good life mean to you?

JJ: Living the good life to me means being in good health and being able to be around good people who value you, who you are and what you’re about. It’s being in an all-around good environment. If you’re around good people who treat you well and look out for you and you’re paying attention to people in the same manner, that’s a good life. •

“What’s really important to me is trust, loyalty and integrity, but you get so busy in life that you take it for granted.” – Mayor Johnathan Judd