Minneapolis Dems endorse socialist Omar Fateh for mayor over incumbent Jacob Frey

Minneapolis Democrats endorsed Sen. Omar Fateh in this year’s mayoral race over incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey during a Saturday convention.

“I am incredibly honored to be the DFL endorsed candidate for Minneapolis Mayor. 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,” said Fateh, a democratic socialist who is serving his second term in the Minnesota Senate.

The 35-year-old has been described as the “Minneapolis Mamdani,” a reference to Zohran Mamdani, a socialist who won a stunning victory in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City earlier this year.

After Mamdani’s victory in June, the Minneapolis chapter of the DSA declared Fateh’s mayoral run to be the next battlefront in advancing their socialist agenda.

Fateh’s record includes an unsuccessful bill to make Minnesota a “sanctuary state” for illegal immigrants and support for a 2021 charter amendment to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new “department of public safety.”

Frey campaign describes convention as ‘extremely flawed’

Frey’s campaign released a statement describing the Minneapolis DFL’s convention as “extremely flawed and irregular.”

“This election should be decided by the entire city rather than the small group of people who became delegates, particularly in light of the extremely flawed and irregular conduct of this convention,” said campaign manager Sam Schulenberg. “Voters will now have a clear choice between the records and leadership of Sen. Fateh and Mayor Frey. We look forward to taking our vision to the voters in November.”

One convention attendee, Will Stancil, elaborated on Schulenberg’s comments, writing on X: “The issue is that the convention rolled out an electronic voting system that seemed to break. No one is sure but many voters were not receiving confirmation emails their votes were recorded.”

The issue is that the convention rolled out an electronic voting system that seemed to break. No one is sure but many voters were not receiving confirmation emails their votes were recorded. (I voted four times and received one of the eight emails the system said I should get)

— Will Stancil (@whstancil) July 20, 2025

After leading in the first round of electronic voting, Fateh ultimately received the endorsement in a process that involved delegates raising their badges for their preferred candidate. Video shows very few delegates raising their badges for Frey because, according to Wedge Live, his campaign “tried to deny quorum by pulling their people off the floor.”

At 9:30 p.m., the @MinneapolisDFL is now voting for endorsements based on the raising of attendee badges.

With only @OmarFatehMN supporters present, Fateh was just announced as DFL-endorsed candidate.

A @Jacob_Frey campaign spox confirms the mayor’s supporters had left pic.twitter.com/hClihifeSF

— Kyle Stokes (@kystokes) July 20, 2025

The Frey campaign told Axios that they plan to challenge Fateh’s endorsement to the state party.

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