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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey beat back a challenge Tuesday from Democratic Socialist Omar Fateh, whose far-left policy proposals have drawn comparisons to Zohran Mamdani.
Frey, 44, rose to national prominence during the riots in the city after George Floyd’s killing at the hands of a white police officer in 2020.
He had the most first-place votes with 41.8% Tuesday night. Fateh came in second with 31.7% in the first round.
Minneapolis uses ranked-choice voting, and Frey ended up achieving a majority in the third round of tabulation on Wednesday. Fateh’s had 44.4%.
The city’s Democratic party — the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) — initially endorsed Fateh, 35, the first Somali American and Muslim to serve in the Minnesota state Senate at their convention in July.
However, Frey challenged the endorsement based on the DFL’s voting process, leading to its Constitution, Bylaws & Rules Committee to controversially withdraw support for Fateh.
Although Frey angered the city’s progressive element when he stopped short of calling for the police to be defunded in the wake of Floyd’s death, he has established his woke credentials repeatedly during his tenure.
In March, Frey vowed at a town hall with state Democratic leaders including “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar that Minneapolis would remain a “safe haven” for illegal immigrants, even in the face of the ongoing Trump administration crackdown.
“I want all of you just to know exactly where we are as far as our neighbors go, Minneapolis will continue to be a safe haven for undocumented immigrants,” he said, vowing police in the city would continue refusing to inquire about people’s immigration status, nor arrest people for being in the country illegally.
After August’s horrific mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic school at the hands of a transgender gunman, Frey took to the airwaves to defend the trans community.
“I have heard about a whole lot of hate that’s being directed at our trans community,” Frey told reporters at a press conference shortly after the shooting.
“Anybody who is using this … as an opportunity to villainize our trans community, or any other community out there, has lost their sense of common humanity. We should not be operating out of a place of hate for anyone.”
Fateh, who like Mamdani is a young, socialist Muslim, also drew parallels to the NYC mayoral hopeful for leftist policy proposals.
He had pledged to raise the minimum wage in Minneapolis, increase the supply of affordable housing, and has railed against the police department — calling to replace some of its duties with community-led alternatives.
He’s also said he would alert illegal aliens about planned ICE raids in the city.
The other candidates in the election included Andrea Revel, Troy Peterson, Kevin Ward, Xavier Pauke, Adam Terzich, Kevin A. Dwire, Charlie McCloud, Alejandro Richardson, Laverne Turner, Jeffrey Wagner, DeWayne Davis, Jazz Hampton, and Brenda Short.
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