Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) is planning to file an appeal after he lost the Minneapolis Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s (DFL) endorsement to a democratic socialist challenger in a process that he argues was significantly flawed.
The move comes after Frey lost the backing of the party in Minnesota affiliated with the national Democratic Party, to state Sen. Omar Fateh (D), who is running to Frey’s left.
The support of the city DFL party could be a boost for Fateh as he tries to oust the two-term incumbent mayor, but Frey and his supporters argue that the city convention endorsement process, which took place Saturday, was flawed.
The city’s mayoral race is a ranked choice election in which all candidates compete on the same ballot regardless of party. A Democrat is almost guaranteed to win the election in the heavily left-leaning city, and while a party endorsement doesn’t clinch victory, it can be an advantage to the candidate.
Fateh won support from at least 60 percent of delegates voting, marking the party’s first endorsement of a mayoral candidate in 16 years, the Star Tribune reported.
But the outlet reported that the process was the subject of significant confusion and scrutiny as counting the first round of voting took almost two hours to complete. Fateh led that round with about 44 percent of the vote to Frey’s roughly 31.5 percent, leaving them as the only two candidates in contention for the endorsement.
Technology issues led to the slowdown, party officials told the outlet. But motions to conduct the endorsement vote by paper ballots failed.
By the time that a final vote was conducted by raising hands, many of Frey’s supporters had left the convention, and Frey’s indicated that he will appeal the result to the state party.
“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,” said Frey campaign manager Sam Schulenberg in a statement. “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.”
The Hill has reached out to the city party and Fateh’s campaign for comment.
Fateh said in a post on X that he’s “incredibly honored” to be the endorsed candidate in the race.
“This endorsement is a message that Minneapolis residents are done with broken promises, vetoes, and politics as usual,” he said. “It’s a mandate to build a city that works for all of us.”
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