JUST IN: Minneapolis Mayor Wins Reelection Over Democratic Socialist Challenger

(Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP)

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) defeated Democratic Socialist Party challenger Omar Fateh and others to win a third term in office after an election that relied on ranked-choice voting.

Ranked choice voting required multiple counts before Frey came out on top. In the first round of voting, Frey, who belongs to the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, led Fateh in the 15-person race, but things had to move to another round of counting since he did not meet the required 50% threshold, according to the Associated Press.

In Minneapolis’s ranked-choice voting, the candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated after a first round count. Then their second choice on the ballot is counted and allocated to the remaining candidates. The process continues until someone reaches the 50% threshold.

In the end, Frey crossed the 50% mark while Fateh, a Democratic state senator, received 44.4% in the final round of counting. In the first round, Frey was leading Fateh by about 10%, scoring more than 40% of the total vote. Candidates DeWayne Davis, Jazz Hampton, Laverne Turner, and Brenda Short were all eliminated after the second round of counting.

Fateh promised to raise the minimum wage in the city, railed against police and suggested community-based replacements in certain areas, and increasing affordable housing. Fateh was not as successful in selling his far-left vision to voters as Zohran Mamdani in New York City’s mayoral race where Mamdani, also a Democratic socialist, defeated former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

Fateh would have become the city’s Muslim and Somali American mayor. He, Rev. DeWayne, and and businessman Hampton all urged their voters to rank each other as their top choices to prevent the incumbent from winning reelection. More than 140,000 residents voted in the Minneapolis mayoral election, which is a record, according to local election officials.