Minneapolis Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey survived a challenge from democratic socialist Omar Fateh and 13 other contenders to secure a third term as mayor.

Fateh gained media attention for policy proposals similar to New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

Unlike Mamdani, Fateh was unsuccessful in his mayoral bid.

Minneapolis uses a ranked-choice voting system for its mayoral election.

ABC News explained:

Frey, who secured a third term, led Fateh by about 10 percentage points after Tuesday night’s first round of counting but didn’t cross the 50%-plus-one-vote threshold he needed to win outright.

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According to final but unofficial results posted by the city, Frey got 50.03% of the vote in the second and final round to 44.37% for Fateh. Frey’s finish was an improvement from his 49.1% in 2021.

The way ranked-choice voting works in Minneapolis, if no candidate clears the threshold in the first round, candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated for the next round of counting, while second- and third-choice rankings are allocated to the surviving candidates.

Frey, a mainstream Democrat, and Fateh, a Democratic state senator who is a democratic socialist, led a 15-candidate field. The only other candidates drawing significant votes were the Rev. DeWayne Davis and businessman Jazz Hampton, who were further back.

“Minnesota of all places last night rejected socialism. There is still hope for the future,” Townhall columnist Dustin Grage commented.

More from the New York Post:

The city’s Democratic party — the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) — initially endorsed Fateh, 35, the first Somali American and Muslim to serve in the Minnesota state Senate at their convention in July.

However, Frey challenged the endorsement based on the DFL’s voting process, leading to its Constitution, Bylaws & Rules Committee to controversially withdraw support for Fateh.

Although Frey angered the city’s progressive element when he stopped short of calling for the police to be defunded in the wake of Floyd’s death, he has established his woke credentials repeatedly during his tenure.

In March, Frey vowed at a town hall with state Democratic leaders including “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar that Minneapolis would remain a “safe haven” for illegal immigrants, even in the face of the ongoing Trump administration crackdown.

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“I want all of you just to know exactly where we are as far as our neighbors go, Minneapolis will continue to be a safe haven for undocumented immigrants,” he said, vowing police in the city would continue refusing to inquire about people’s immigration status, nor arrest people for being in the country illegally.

 

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