XPost: mn.politics, or.politics, sac.politics
XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.socialism.democratic

A Democratic socialist member of the Minnesota state senate won his
party’s endorsement for the Minneapolis mayoral race over the incumbent, giving momentum to the progressive left’s political rise.

Omar Fateh, a state senator from Minneapolis’s southside, beat
Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, who served as mayor during the George
Floyd protests and through the pandemic. Fateh gained momentum after
Zohran Mamdani, also a democratic socialist and state lawmaker, won the
primary for New York City mayor.

Fateh was first elected to the state senate in 2020 and won re-election
in 2022. He was the first Somali American and Muslim elected to the
chamber. He chaired the higher education committee and advanced a plan
for free college for families who make less than $80,000.

“I am incredibly honored to be the DFL endorsed candidate for
Minneapolis mayor,” Fateh said after the endorsement win, referring to
the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, the Democratic party in Minnesota.
“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.”

Frey’s campaign contends that the endorsement process in Minneapolis was flawed and an electronic voting system didn’t properly count all votes.
He is planning an appeal to the state party, multiple local news outlets reported.

It is not unheard of for an incumbent to lose the party’s endorsement in
the city – Frey came in second in his two prior runs for the office and
still won the elections. In the endorsement process for Minneapolis
races, local delegates vote for which candidate they want to endorse,
then narrow down until a candidate tops 60% of the vote.

In the first ballot this weekend, Fateh got 43% of votes to Frey’s 31%.
The tabulation took longer than expected, and some questioned whether
all votes were actually included in the eventual tally, Axios Twin
Cities reported. Frey’s supporters left the convention, and the
remaining delegates voted by a show of hands, giving Fateh the win.

“I want to thank everyone who showed up to support my campaign,” Frey
said after the endorsement loss. “This election should be decided by our entire city, not by a handful of delegates.”

The city uses ranked-choice voting, and the general election is this
November.

After Mamdani’s win in June, Fateh posted a video in a similar style,
talking about his plans for affordability, defending the city against
Trump and public safety.

“Everyone keeps asking me, Omar, why aren’t you doing more videos? As a state senator with a second full time job and a kid on the way, I just haven’t been able to find the time,” he says while walking through the city.

Like Mamdani, Fateh focused on affordability and has emphasized that he
is a renter throughout his campaign – topics he has been committed to as state senator as well. There are some Minnesota twists: “We’ll shovel sidewalks, build shelters, and finally reopen public spaces,” he wrote
on X about his platform. “I’m here to fight for the people this city’s left behind.”

Fateh has been attacked with racist and Islamophobic comments by
rightwing commentators in recent weeks. Charlie Kirk, the leader of
Turning Point USA, claimed there has been an “Islamic takeover” in the country and shared Fateh’s video, saying people need to “commit to
stopping all third world immigration”.

Fateh was born in Washington DC.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/21/omar-fateh-minneapolis-ma yor-endorsements

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)