Socialist Mayoral Candidate Loses Dem Endorsement Over Vote Counting Issues

The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor-Party (DFL) has rescinded its endorsement of Omar Fateh, a socialist candidate for mayor of Minneapolis, due to concerns over vote tabulations at the party’s convention last month.

Fateh, who has openly stated that he will put the interests of Somalis above all, defeated incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey at the party’s convention in an upset result last month. The endorsement was short lived, however, as Minnesota DFL chair Richard Carlbom announced that it will be rescinded in a statement Thursday.

“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 19th, including an acknowledgement that a mayoral candidate was errantly eliminated from contention,” he said.

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, according to a report from CBS Minneapolis.

Fateh speaks in his initial campaign announcement

“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.”

A spokesperson for Mpls for the Many, a Frey aligned group, called the DFL decision “unfortunate” and accused the party of putting “its thumb firmly on the scales of democracy.”

“The results from the July 19th 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.”

Fateh is running as an open Democratic Socialist, which has drawn him comparisons to New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Like Mamdani, Fateh has vowed to openly defy the federal government when it comes to immigration enforcement policy.

“Protecting all of our communities from Donald Trump means not letting MPD interact with ICE, whether it’s for an immigration raid or not. Our residents deserve a mayor who will stand up to Donald Trump and say, ‘No, not in our community,” he said in a July 13 video statement posted to X.

Fateh has also mirrored Mamdani in calling for a rent freeze and has called to increase the city’s minimum wage to $20 per hour by 2028. “As a renter in Stevens Square with a full-time job on top of my part-time Senator job, and a baby on the way, I want to keep money in working people’s pockets and circulating in our local economy. That’s why I’ll work to implement a $20 minimum wage by 2028 & rent stabilization,” he wrote in an additional post on the same date.

Fateh has represented the area of South Minneapolis where George Floyd died since 2021.