Minneapolis (Somalia Today) — Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey won a third term in a closely watched race, fending off a strong progressive challenge after a ranked-choice tally concluded Wednesday.
The moderate Democrat’s victory was confirmed after a record 55% of registered voters cast ballots, edging past the previous high of 54% set in 2021.
Because no candidate secured an outright majority on Tuesday, the city’s ranked-choice voting system kicked in.
Frey led the first round with 42% of the vote, followed by state Senator and Democratic Socialist Omar Fateh at 32%. After lower-finishing candidates were eliminated and their votes were redistributed, officials declared Frey the winner on Wednesday.
Politics and Policing
The COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 murder of George Floyd shaped Frey’s first two terms, igniting global protests and triggering a crisis in local policing.
Since then, the city has operated under a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice to reform its police department—an issue that remained central, and divisive, throughout the 2025 campaign.
At his election-night party Tuesday, Frey framed the result as a rejection of ideological extremes.
“We have tackled the most difficult of circumstances. We’ve done it hand in hand, facing the world,” Frey told supporters. “Minneapolis is rising, and every one of us we are going to rise along with it.”
He said voters rewarded “good, thoughtful governance, where you work with your constituents and you love your city more than your ideology.”
Frey also pledged to shield city residents from what he called “authoritarianism” at the national level, adding that Minneapolis would stand with all who live there, including immigrants.
“They’re not undocumented immigrants,” Frey said. “They are our neighbors.”
Fateh falls short
Fateh, 35, mounted the most serious challenge to Frey from the left. A second-term state senator, he campaigned on making Minneapolis more affordable, backing rent control and a $20 minimum wage.
He also promised a “care, not crackdowns” approach to public safety and to addressing homeless encampments.
At his own event, Fateh said his campaign had “already changed the conversation for what Minneapolis can be.”
“That’s what this fight has always been about — our future,” he said. “A future where public safety means care, not crackdowns… where we treat our unhoused neighbors with dignity.”
The race drew massive outside spending. Political action committees (PACs) aligned with Frey—primarily funded by developers and property managers—had raised approximately $1.6 million as of October 20. A rival progressive PAC raised $352,000, according to campaign finance reports.
Pro-Frey PACs financed ads attacking Fateh over his frequent brushes with scandal, which were the subject of two Senate ethics investigations.
No veto-proof majority
While Frey’s re-election marked a clear win for the mayor, the 13-member City Council remains a counterweight.
The council’s progressive wing, which has often clashed with Frey, lost its veto-proof majority. Three incumbent democratic socialists—Robin Wonsley, Aisha Chughtai, and Jason Chavez—won re-election. A fourth, Soren Stevenson, captured a vacant seat.
However, the bloc lost a key ally when Elizabeth Shaffer, a moderate, defeated Council Member Katie Cashman. That shift—combined with the re-election of swing-vote Council Member Jamal Osman—means progressives no longer hold the nine votes needed to override Frey’s vetoes.
Last year, the council successfully overrode Frey on several major issues, including a minimum pay rate for rideshare drivers and a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
The new council makeup suggests the mayoral result will usher in a different political landscape—one likely to require more negotiation between the mayor’s office and the council’s progressive members over the next four years.
