The mayor of Minneapolis — who oversaw the city during the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots — has lost the backing of the Dem party to a Somali-American socialist following a contested vote by party members.
Omar Fateh, 35, a Minnesota state Senator, won the endorsement of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party for Minneapolis mayor over Jacob Frey, who has been in office since 2018.
Fateh (MN-62), who is the first Somali American and Muslim to serve in the Minnesota state Senate, received more than 60% of the vote from delegates at the Minneapolis DFL convention late Saturday — despite complaints from the Frey campaign over the election process.
Issues with electronic balloting at the convention saw paper ballots brought in, while the final vote was taken via a show of raised badges, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Frey’s supporters left the Target Center arena in protest in an attempt to deny the convention a quorum.
“This election should be decided by the entire city rather than the small group of people who became delegates, particularly in light of the extremely flawed and irregular conduct of this convention,” Frey’s campaign manager Sam Schulenberg said.
“Voters will now have a clear choice between the records and leadership of Sen. Fateh and Mayor Frey. We look forward to taking our vision to the voters in November,” he said.
Frey, who was elected mayor in 2017 and reelected in 2021, was in charge of Minneapolis while the city burned during 2020’s BLM riots in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a white police officer in the city.
Despite Frey’s sops to the left on police reform, his words and actions didn’t go far enough for many progressives in the city.
In 2020, Frey was booed and heckled at a demonstration after saying he didn’t support defunding the Minneapolis Police Department.
Fateh, a Democratic Socialist, ran on a campaign similar to that of New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, calling for rent stabilization, more affordable housing, and higher taxes on the wealthy.
“I am incredibly honored to be the DFL endorsed candidate for Minneapolis Mayor,” he said on X following his victory.. This endorsement is a message that Minneapolis residents are done with broken promises, vetoes, and politics as usual. It’s a mandate to build a city that works for all of us.
“November 4 is around the corner. Join our coalition of voters who share our vision for a Minneapolis where housing is a human right, public safety means sending the right responders, and city government stands for working people, not corporate donors,” he added.
