The forthcoming Minneapolis mayoral election, scheduled for November 4th, has evolved into a crucial political experiment, testing the city’s ideological trajectory and the rapidly escalating electoral influence of its significant Somali and Muslim communities.
At the center of this contest is Omar Fateh, a young Somali-American State Senator and self-proclaimed democratic socialist, who is waging a high-profile, progressive challenge against two-term incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey.
This race has placed Minneapolis at the forefront of a national trend, highlighting the generational and ideological rifts within the Democratic party structure.
Fateh’s background is representative of the changing demographics in American urban politics.
Born in Washington D.C. in 1990 to Somali parents who arrived as refugees, he quickly found his political footing in Minneapolis. His academic credentials include a Master of Public Administration from George Mason University, and his professional experience centered on public administration and community consultation.
Fateh made a name for himself in 2020 by successfully unseating a long-term incumbent to become the first Somali-American and first Muslim elected to the Minnesota State Senate, signaling the new power of minority and progressive voters in the state.
Ideologically aligned with the progressive left wing of the state’s Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) Party and groups like the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Fateh has framed his campaign as a fight against the “status quo”. His platform is robustly progressive, calling for a $20 per hour minimum wage by 2028, comprehensive rent stabilization measures, and a commitment to public safety reform.
He argues that a public safety model should rely more on non-police responders for issues like mental health crises, allowing armed officers to focus strictly on violent crime. This vision for a more affordable and equitable city has garnered strong backing from youth and the progressive organizing base.
The electoral importance of Minneapolis’s diverse population cannot be overstated. The Somali diaspora community in the city is one of the largest in North America, with an estimated 38,588 Somali residents residing in Hennepin County, according to 2020 data.
Broader estimates suggest the Muslim population in the Minneapolis metro area is substantial, positioning the city as a major center for American Muslims. This demographic concentration translates into a potentially formidable voting bloc, particularly in neighborhoods like Cedar-Riverside.
However, the unified direction of this vote is far from guaranteed, with some analysis showing that Somali and Muslim voters recently withheld support from Democrats in national elections due to issues like foreign policy and conservative cultural values. The community’s electoral impact remains highly dependent on turnout in this specific municipal contest.
Fateh’s main opponent, Mayor Jacob Frey, is seeking a third term and benefits significantly from the incumbency advantage and substantial financial backing. Campaign finance reports consistently show Frey as the top fundraiser in the race, and he and allied groups have amassed more than twice the capital of Fateh’s campaign, securing a critical advantage in voter outreach and messaging.
The tension between the two campaigns has been dramatically amplified by the revocation of the DFL party endorsement. After Fateh won the Minneapolis DFL convention endorsement in July 2025, the Minnesota State DFL Party formally rescinded it, citing “substantial failures in the convention’s voting process,” including a crucial undercount and improperly dropping a rival candidate. Fateh’s supporters condemned the move as an attempt by “party insiders and establishment Democrats” to overturn the will of the delegates and suppress a progressive challenge.
The unprecedented decision left the party without an endorsed mayoral candidate and highlighted the deep ideological battle between the establishment and the insurgent democratic socialist wing.
With up to 15 candidates on the ballot, including the other viable challengers DeWayne Davis and Jazz Hampton, the election’s outcome will be determined by Minneapolis’s ranked-choice voting (RCV) system. RCV allows voters to rank up to three candidates, and if no candidate secures over 50% of the first-choice votes, the last-place candidates are eliminated, and their votes are redistributed.
Preliminary polling has indicated a fiercely tight race, with Frey typically leading first-choice votes but not reaching the 50% threshold. To block the incumbent, Fateh, Davis, and Hampton formed an explicit alliance, urging their supporters to rank one another but strategically exclude Frey from their ballots.
The election is therefore a test of whether the progressive coalition can successfully mobilize their voters to utilize the RCV system and overcome the incumbent’s financial and establishment advantages to achieve systemic change.