Forest Lake school board candidate Claire Luger has a resume that includes special education teacher and Wyoming City Council member, but there’s another role that isn’t listed on her campaign website: punk rocker.
Luger is the lead singer of The Silent Treatment, a Minneapolis-area punk band that has performed at “No Kings” rallies sporting “Fight Fascism” t-shirts and whose politically charged music and activism offer voters another look at the candidate seeking one of three open seats on the Forest Lake Area School Board this November.
School board races in Minnesota are nonpartisan, but Luger’s on-the-record statements leave little mystery about where she stands politically.
Six candidates, three seats
Luger is one of six candidates competing for three Forest Lake school board seats Nov. 3.
The other candidates are Mike Belz, Jill Christenson, Andi Courneya, incumbent Board Chair Curt Rebelein and Sean Thomas. Those elected will serve four-year terms beginning in January.
Belz and Thomas are newcomers running together, while Luger is running alongside Christenson and Courneya as part of a three-candidate slate.
The six-candidate race comes after years of increasingly contentious debates over the direction of the Forest Lake district.
Last fall, for instance, Alpha News reported that the Forest Lake school board voted 4-3 to send a letter urging state leaders and the Minnesota State High School League to comply with the federal government’s interpretation of Title IX and prohibit biological males from competing in female sports and using female-only facilities.
Of the current board members seeking reelection this November, Rebelein voted in favor of sending the Title IX letter, while Christenson voted against it.
Luger, for her part, has made her feelings about the direction of the Forest Lake school board clear.
“We’re kind of fighting a battle up in the Forest Lake area on their school board because it’s an awful, awful just shit show of a majority,” Luger said during a June 2025 podcast interview.
Punk rock meets progressive politics
Luger’s political activity isn’t limited to school board politics. She is the founder and frontwoman of the punk rock band The Silent Treatment.
The band’s catalog includes titles such as “Hulk Hogan (Is A Dick),” along with politically driven songs taking aim at American institutions and culture.
She is also a founding member of Minnesota Music Resistance, a Minneapolis-area organization that uses music and benefit concerts to organize around progressive causes.
A March profile of Luger described her work with the organization as turning the energy of punk music into political action, including support for “immigrant communities, civil-liberties work and local resistance efforts.”
During the June 2025 “Brian Oake Show” interview, she said organizers hoped to “fight back against the onslaught of fascism and authoritarianism and things like that.”
“If you have ever listened to a word of our music, there is no question where we stand on the nightmare that continues to unfold in our community,” her band wrote on Facebook earlier this year when immigration enforcement was being carried out in the Twin Cities.
“You cannot be a decent human being and support the occupation of Minnesota, murders of Minnesotans, kidnapping of Minnesotans, and abuse of Minnesotans simply for existing and for exercising their Constitutional rights.”
Luger has also spoken publicly about her time in the Middle East, where she lived as a “practicing Muslim” for several years before eventually returning home to Minnesota and leaving the religion, according to the Longfellow Nokomis Messenger.
“Even just being in the music community is kind of an act of resistance,” Luger told the outlet. “Musicians are kind of fighting to be taken seriously all the time … We use music as a way of getting political messages out.”
Luger, who frequently performs in shirts with slogans such as “Protect Trans Kids” and “Resist,” also has a family connection to Minnesota politics.
Her sister is DFL Rep. Meg Luger-Nikolai, who drew criticism after she floated a dramatic increase in vehicle registration fees for some Minnesotans.
Luger responds
In response to an Alpha News inquiry, Luger provided context for her characterization of the Forest Lake school board majority as an “awful, awful just shit show,” saying the remark came after a series of contentious debates.
Luger pointed to proposed changes to the district’s dress code, including removing explicit references to prohibited hate symbols, as well as changes involving student clubs.
She also accused members of the board majority of making inflammatory statements about racism, swastikas and student clubs and criticized Chair Rebelein for publicly saying that, as a Catholic, he was offended by the Pride flag.
“The accumulation of these concerns resulted in my remarks on the Brian Oake Show and my decision to run for school board,” Luger told Alpha News.
Luger said every student deserves to feel welcome in Forest Lake schools regardless of whether “who they are happens to align with school board members’ religious or political beliefs.”
She also addressed her nearly 12 years on the Wyoming City Council, saying she is particularly proud of supporting the city’s public safety departments, negotiating contracts for public safety employees, improving infrastructure and increasing transparency while maintaining fiscal responsibility.
“For nearly three terms, my colleagues and I have set aside labels in order to focus on how to best serve the community of Wyoming respectfully and collaboratively,” Luger said.
“Personal and political agendas have no place on a non-partisan board, be it a school board or a city council,” she added. “My tenure is proof that elected officials can work together with a shared goal for a community.”
Luger did not directly answer Alpha News’ question about whether she considers herself politically progressive or how her work with Minnesota Music Resistance would inform her decisions as a school board member.
Jenna Gloeb
Jenna Gloeb is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist, media producer, public speaker, and screenwriter. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and on-air host for CCX Media. Jenna is a Minnesota native and resides in the Twin Cities with her husband, son, daughter, and two dogs.
