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Minneapolis mayoral candidate questions DFL rescinding endorsement

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Published  August 22, 2025 6:31pm CDT
Politics
FOX 9
DFL criticizes Mpls mayor endorsement process

DFL criticizes Mpls mayor endorsement process

Minnesota DFL insiders are ripping the party for its decision to take away a Minneapolis mayoral endorsement from Sen. Omar Fateh following a chaotic process in July.

The Brief

    • Elected DFL politicians are ripping the state party for rescinding the Minneapolis mayoral endorsement that went to Sen. Omar Fateh during a July convention.
    • The state party cited uncounted votes and other irregularities in its decision, which means all the candidates — not just Fateh — have access to a DFL voter database and to party officials.
    • Rec. Dewayne Davis benefits from the decision, but says he didn't advocate for it. He finished third in the initial endorsement ballot, but was erroneously cut from the second ballot because of mistakes.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Minnesota DFL insiders are ripping the party for its decision to take away a Minneapolis mayoral endorsement from Sen. Omar Fateh.

Hidden Winner?

Candidate #3:

Even the third-place candidate who was wrongly cut from the endorsement race says he didn’t want it to happen, even though he benefited from the move.

The state party’s announcement Thursday followed an investigation showing mistakes and mishandling of votes tainted the outcome.

In the corrected tally, Fateh got support from a little over 41% of delegates.

Mayor Jacob Frey got about 30%.

And Rev. Dewayne Davis got 20%.

But in the initial count, with 176 votes apparently accidentally ignored, Davis narrowly missed out on 20%, which is the support he needed to make a second ballot.

"The will of the delegates was clear," said Amanda Otero, co-executive director at Take Action MN.

What ifs

If the convention continued:

Otero and other delegates who want Sen. Fateh to be the next mayor of Minneapolis say they believe he was on track to get 60% support to earn the endorsement at the city’s DFL convention last month.

The next two closest candidates didn’t see it going the same way.

"We had assumed, based upon the numbers, that no one would get the thresholds who get the endorsement," Davis told FOX9. "And so our strategy has always been a post-convention strategy."

Why it's important

Tipping the scale:

The Minneapolis DFL hadn’t endorsed a mayoral candidate since R.T. Rybak in 2009. 

But winning the endorsement allows a candidate to cut off their opponents from a very important voter database as well as party officials.

So it was huge when Fateh won the endorsement in July and when the state DFL took it away this week.

Thanks, but no thanks

Davis dilemma:

But Davis says he didn’t push to overturn the endorsement Fateh had for a month.

He says the delegates operated in good faith and agrees with Fateh supporters that rescinding the endorsement — despite convention irregularities — only divides the party’s leaders and voters.

"There's nothing that's uniting about an unfair process," Mayor Frey said of the criticism. "I haven't heard any of them argue that the process was fair."

Frey says convention mistakes destroyed any chance at confidence in an endorsement, but he believes the party will unite again when this November’s election is done.

Divided DFL

Long term damage?:

But Fateh supporters say there could be other remedies, like a revote.

They’re condemning the state party’s decision and wondering whether it'll have an impact beyond November 2025.

"I feel like this decision continues to make many people feel unwelcome in the party," said Chelsea McFarren, chair of Minneapolis for the Many. "And that there is a large potential to discourage future participation."

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar also joined several elected Minneapolis Democrats, penning a letter saying the decision will damage DFL organizing for years to come and questioning whether the DFL tent is big enough for all of them.

PoliticsMinneapolisElection