Aisha Chughtai, Katie Cashman, Ilhan Omar with Ethrophic Burnett
BY ED FELIEN
When I was on the City Council more than half a century ago, John Derus, the Majority Whip, came into my office to complain about my bringing up all sorts of resolutions at Council Meetings that didn’t have the votes to pass (like Rent Control or municipalization of the electric company). It embarrassed Council Members to have to vote against them. He said, “There’s only one rule in politics. You have to know how to count.”
So, in that spirit, what’s the count in the contests between progressives and moderates, between radicals and liberals, between socialists and capitalists in the Minneapolis City Council races?
Ward 1, Elliott Payne looks very safe. He’s Council President and leader of the pack of Progressives.
Ward 2, Robin Wonsley, probably the most progressive on the Council, charts a maverick path. She refuses to seek the DFL endorsement out of some notion of ideological purity, but she has enough supporters inside the DFL to make sure no one else could get it either. She looks very safe for another four years.
Ward 3, Michael Rainville, moderate, looks impregnable.
Ward 4, LaTrisha Vetaw, moderate, looks safe.
Ward 5, Jeremiah Ellison is retiring, and there was no endorsement at the 5th Ward DFL Endorsing Convention. Enthropic Burnett, the more progressive candidate, and Pearll Warren, the more moderate, split the vote on the third ballot, and the Convention adjourned. This looks like a toss-up going into November.
Ward 6, Jamal Osman, a generally reliable progressive, should have no trouble getting re-elected.
Ward 7, incumbent Katie Cashman lost her bid for DFL endorsement by one percentage point to Park Board Commissioner Elizabeth Shaffer. Shaffer is funded by Joe Radinovich’s We Love Mpls landlord-lobbying organization. He plans on spending $600,000 in the November election to elect Council Members and a Mayor who will vote against rent control. Mayor Frey’s Planning Department is trying to bury the mandate for rent control favored by Minneapolis voters in 2021 under a mountain of studies. Progressives want a 3% annual cap on rent increases, and the moderates say they want to study it further. Radinovich was Frey’s Chief of Staff and former Campaign Manager. He knows where to put the money and where to find the votes. He did a great job in turning out people for the Precinct Caucuses in April. There are more renters than landlords in Wards 7 and 10, but Radinovich has motivated landlords to participate.
His efforts were successful in blocking the endorsement of Aisha Chughtai in the neighboring 10th Ward, but Chughtai showed strength with 52% of the delegate votes against Lydia Millard’s 47%. There seemed to be no hope of either candidate getting the 60% needed for endorsement, so the Convention adjourned.
I couldn’t resist writing to Chughtai:
“I hope you will forgive my arrogance in offering you a strategic consideration for your campaign, but I believe the best way to deal with an opposition candidate supported by the landlord lobby is to attack them head-on. Joe Radinovitch, former Chief of Staff and Campaign Manager for Jacob Frey, is planning on spending $600,000 this election season to defeat progressive candidates and re-elect Jacob Frey. He is raising that money from landlords who want to defeat Rent Control. But We Love MPLS doesn’t want to talk about rent control because they know that it is a popular idea. They prefer to talk about crime and empty storefronts. I believe the most difficult problem in a campaign to re-elect progressives is turnout. Once supporters have elected a progressive they feel the job is done and they sit on their hands. And the reactionary opposition convinces their side that this is a holy war to overthrow tyrants trying to steal their liberty (see Trump v Harris). You need to motivate your base by convincing them that this is a crisis and all could be lost if we let the landlord lobby win. We need to motivate renters and progressives to get out and vote.
“CM Chavez says you and Ellison are handling the rent control study and possible referendum. I believe you should push to get this on the ballot for November. The Housing/Rent Stabilization Work Group (now dissolved) produced an unreadable and irrelevant 476 page document whose only purpose was to slow down movement toward a referendum. I think you and Ellison should introduce an ordinance calling for a maximum annual rent increase of 3%. This ordinance should easily pass the Council, but will probably be vetoed by Frey. This will set the stage. We will know, clearly, who the players are and what side they’re on. It is not clear if you would have the votes to override Frey’s veto, but you and other DSA candidates would have an issue that would motivate young voters, whether or not it gets on the ballot.
“I hope you will consider this suggestion.”
I haven’t heard back.
So, for a final prognostication in Ward 7, it looks like a toss-up.
Ward 8 looks like an easy win for Soren Stevenson, a solid progressive. Andrea Jenkins is retiring. We sincerely hope we haven’t heard the last of her. Perhaps now, in retirement, she’ll have more time to write poetry and share her spoken word at Pillsbury Theater. We would always welcome her commentary at Southside Pride.
Ward 9, Chavez wins easily.
David Tilsen commented on the Ninth Ward Endorsing Convention: “It was glorious. What a great community.
“Jason was endorsed with only three votes for no endorsement, basically acclimation.
“Great reception for Omar Fateh and DeWayne Davis.
“We were done, and the delegates were informed that Jacob Frey was 5 minutes away and wanted to address us. A motion was made to adjourn before the Mayor got there. We adjourned as Jacob was pulling into the parking lot, and we retired to eat the pizza that Jason had bought.
“Joyous ending. I loved it.”
Ward 10, Chughtai can win this one, but she’s got a tough road ahead.
Ward 11, Jamison Whiting, a moderate, will win this easily. We predicted a coronation at his endorsing convention, and we were not disappointed. We wrote to him, “Was it a breeze? First ballot? Acclimation?”
He wrote back, “It was a breeze, Ed! There was some issue with the counting of the ballots so it was 77% with acclimation!
“First ballot!
“Hope you are doing well!”
Although he is a moderate and supports Frey for Mayor, he’s intelligent and reasonable, and, like his predessors in Ward 11, one hopes he’ll vote with progressives on some do or die issues.
Ward 12, Aurin Chowdhury, a solid progressive, will win this one easily.
Ward 13, Linea Palmisano, moderate, will win.
So, what’s the final count?
It looks like progressives are sure of six definite wins, and the moderates are sure of four, with three Wards undecided. The progressives need to win only one of those seats to maintain a majority on the Council. Moderates would have to win all three seats to gain control of the Council.
Stay tuned. The fun is just beginning.
