Jacob Frey's campaign challenging Minneapolis DFL endorsement of Omar Fateh

David Schultz breaks down Minneapolis DFL endorsement of Omar Fateh

Political analyst David Schultz joined FOX 9 News at 5 Monday to break down the Minneapolis DFL's decision to endorse Omar Fateh as the city's next mayor, and not Jacob Frey.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Minneapolis DFL held its convention on Saturday at Target Center, and Jacob Frey did not get the endorsement for mayor.

That instead went to State Senator Omar Fateh. Frey has been the mayor of Minneapolis since 2018.

Gov. Walz addresses Jacob Frey not getting mayoral endorsement

Appearing at an event to celebrate the reopening of the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis, Gov. Tim Walz addressed the DFL's decision to endorse Omar Fateh and not Jacob Frey as the next mayor.

What we know:

Frey made his first public appearance since the DFL convention on Monday as state leaders gathered to celebrate the reopening of the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis. He made celebratory comments about the bridge and did not take any questions before leaving the event. Frey’s wife is due with a child.

Frey to file endorsement challenge

Mayor Frey’s campaign released a statement after the vote at the DFL convention.

"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. 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."

Why you should care:

On Monday, Frey’s campaign filed a challenge to those results with the Minnesota DFL Party. Campaign officials say the challenge centers on the extraordinarily high number of missing or uncounted votes. They say the voting system is "highly flawed" and "untested."

Frey’s campaign says 578 votes were counted in the mayoral ballot, despite more than 1,000 delegates and alternates being checked in at the time of the first ballot.

Frey Campaign Manager Sam Schulenberg said, "Everyone who endured this multi-hour convention process deserved to have their voices heard. DFL leaders, delegates, and voters across our city and party are filing challenges to ensure that the inaccurate balloting of the convention does not create a permanent rift in our party. In an overwhelmingly Democratic city like Minneapolis, there is no reason to push through a DFL endorsement using a highly flawed process that clearly missed or did not count a large percentage of the votes cast." 

‘It will work its way out’

What they're saying:

Gov. Tim Walz was also at Monday’s event, and was asked about Frey not getting the endorsement.

"Some of you know my history with endorsements, I don’t put a lot of time on them. Party does the party work, the rest of us who are there. We’ll take a look at everything on that and it will work its way out," Walz said. "I would just say that I have had the privilege of working with Mayor Frey for quite a few years here. We’ll talk."