[1] She received her master's degree in City and Regional Planning from University of California, Berkeley[1] in 2007.

[8] During her first term, Bender focused on creating a safe transportation system for pedestrians, expanding affordable housing choices, fighting for workers protections and higher wages, supporting community and environmental health, and restructuring the public safety apparatus.

[11][12][13] In 2015, she authored an ordinance eliminating or reducing the minimum parking requirement for new residential developments along high-frequency transit routes.

[14][15] The Obama Administration highlighted Bender's parking reform ordinance in its 2016 Housing Development Toolkit as a successful initiative to lessen housing costs, reduce pollution, traffic congestion, and improve economic development.

[25] In June 2020, in response to the murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests, Bender and a veto proof majority of the City Council attended a community meeting at Powderhorn Park.

Because for those of us for whom the system is working, I think we need to step back and imagine what it would feel like to already live in that reality where calling the police may mean more harm is done.

[37] In the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Bender was the only elected official in Minneapolis to endorse the Bernie Sanders campaign.

[38] She served as the campaign's surrogate before the local media on caucus night when Sanders won Minnesota and was elected to be a delegate at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

[39][40] Bender later supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 general election and Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.