SAINT PAUL, Minn — Just three months ago, St. Paul City Council Member Anika Bowie helped make history.
She's part of the first-ever all female council in Minnesota's Capitol City.
But now there are questions swirling about where she actually lives.
These questions were first exposed by the St. Paul Pioneer Press over the weekend, and Anika Bowie admits the address she used when filing for office wasn't where she was living.
Anika Bowie was elected to represent Ward 1 in St. Paul on the city council. When she filed to run for office in August 2023, she wrote on her sworn affidavit that she lives at 839 Aurora Avenue, which is in Ward 1.
The problem?
Johny Araya, not Anika Bowie, owns that home.
"I'm living here, yeah," he said.
When asked whether Bowie lives there too, Araya said, "No, no, not at all. OK. I don't know her."
And the last property owner said Bowie never lived there when he owned the duplex either.
In a texted statement, Bowie said, "I reside with my parents in my ward as I continue the house hunt that was mentioned in the (Pioneer Press) column."
Her father, Steven Bowie, who lives two blocks away, told KARE 11 the council member does spend a lot of time with her fiancé, who lives in Minneapolis, but that she does live with them in the house she grew up in.
If that's the case, then why not put her parents' address on the sworn affidavit?
Anika Bowie responded by text: "Because I was in the process of closing on a house at that address."
An attempted purchase that did not materialize, according to Bowie.
By signing the the affidavit, Bowie swore that she "will have maintained residence in the district for at least 30 days before the general election."
By text, Bowie says: "I do live and have lived in the district. There is extensive documentation of this fact. I've put out a statement about this and am moving forward with my work."
None of the other six city council members responded to a request for comment.
When Bowie ran for office in 2019 she put a different address on Selby Ave. on her affidavit -- an address that doesn't correspond with other public records. Bowie wouldn't comment on that.
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