The Minnesota DFL has revoked the Minneapolis arm of the party’s endorsement of Minnesota state Sen. Omar Fateh in the Minneapolis mayoral race.
Last month, in an upset, Fateh won the Minneapolis DFL endorsement over incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey.
On Thursday, Minnesota DFL chair Richard Carlbom said, “After a thoughtful and transparent review of the challenges, the Constitution, Bylaws & Rules Committee found substantial failures in the Minneapolis Convention’s voting process on July 19, including an acknowledgement that a mayoral candidate was errantly eliminated from contention.”
Carlbom added, “Now it’s time to turn our focus to unity and our common goal: electing DFL leaders focused on making life more affordable for Minnesotans and holding Republicans accountable for the chaos and confusion they’ve unleashed on Minnesotans.”
Frey’s campaign earlier this month submitted a challenge to the state DFL over Fateh’s endorsement. The campaign said there was an “extraordinarily high” number of uncounted votes produced by the “highly flawed and untested” electronic voting system used at the convention.
The state DFL investigation found nearly 200 votes missing, that the check-in sheet was left unsecured and the entire Ward 5 credentials book was lost.
Because of those findings, the Minneapolis DFL is not allowed to endorse a candidate for mayor this year and it has been placed on a two-year probation.
The Minnesota DFL also ruled that all candidates get access to the party’s voter rolls. Usually, only the endorsed candidate gets that information.
After the Minnesota DFL’s announcement, Frey’s campaign released the following statement.
“I am proud to be a member of a party that believes in correcting our mistakes, and I am glad that this inaccurate and obviously flawed process was set aside,” Frey said. “I look forward to having a full and honest debate with Senator Fateh about our city’s future, with the outcome now resting squarely where it should — with all the people of Minneapolis.”
Thursday evening, Fateh posted a video statement to social media.
“Twenty-eight party insiders voted to take away our endorsement behind closed doors,” Fateh said. “This group was comprised of non-Minneapolis residents, Mayor Frey supporters and even donors. This is exactly what Minneapolis voters are sick of. The insider games, the backroom decisions and feeling like our voice doesn’t matter in our own city. Frey’s team used every tactic they could, including delay and confusion on convention day, because they didn’t have the votes. We see this for what it is — disenfranchisement of thousands of Minneapolis caucus goers and the delegates who represented all of us on convention day. Let me be clear, we’re still in this fight. And we’re going to win.”
A spokesperson for the political group Mpls for the Many called the DFL decision “unfortunate” and accused the party of putting “its thumb firmly on the scales of democracy.”
“The results from the July 19 convention were clear and resounding,” Mpls for the Many chair Chelsea McFarren said. “Minneapolis residents are overwhelmingly ready for a new mayor and the majority of them support State Senator Omar Fateh.”
A group of local and state leaders, including several city council members and U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, came together to condemn the Minnesota DFL’s decision.
“It is inexcusable to overturn the results weeks after the convention because board members did not like the outcome. Not only does this decision set an extremely dangerous precedent, it will undermine the DFL endorsing process going forward and fails to center the will of delegates,” the group said in a statement.
The group said it is “extremely disheartening” to see the first Black mayoral candidate to be endorsed by the DFL in the last three decades have the endorsement revoked, and that the decision sets “an extremely dangerous precedent” that will leave many voters feeling “discouraged and unwelcome.”
Fateh is running as a Democratic Socialist. He has represented the south Minneapolis area where George Floyd was killed since 2021. He’s championed the cause of Uber drivers, and backed an additional tax for affordable housing, rent stabilization and a $20 minimum wage. In 2021, he supported a losing charter amendment that critics say would have defunded the police.
Like other political figures, Fateh had to return $11,000 of contributions with links to Feeding Our Future. In 2022, a Senate ethics committee complaint against him was upheld, and a second complaint was dismissed.
The Minneapolis DFL endorsement is considered a major asset to any candidate who receives it because of the money and resources the endorsement provides.
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