BY CLINT COMBS
If you’re wondering why the 2025 Minneapolis mayoral race is so close — why the money’s flowing, the knives are out, and City Hall suddenly looks like a hostage situation in a low-budget Lifetime spin-off — start with Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist who beat the everliving hell out of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Eric Adams.
He’s Muslim. He’s endorsed by DSA. So is State Senator Omar Fateh, the progressive frontrunner challenging Mayor Jacob Frey.
Power hates a pattern. Especially one like this.
A recreation of Stanley Kubrick’s The War Room featuring what many consider as hit pieces against Frey’s main challenger Omar Fateh – Clint Combs Southside Pride
The New York Times reported that the White House offered Adams a diplomatic post — Ambassador to Anywhere But Here — just to clear the field for Cuomo against Mamdani. Adams soon dropped his reelection bid.
Why? There’s that pesky federal indictment. Adams allegedly pressured the NYC Fire Department to greenlight a Turkish consulate without inspection, in exchange for luxury gifts from Turkish officials. Then Trump’s DOJ dropped the charges, claiming the case distracted Adams from helping with their immigration crackdown.
The message from the establishment? If you’re a centrist in trouble, we’ll give you a parachute. If you’re a socialist on the rise, we’ll give you a scandal.
In Minneapolis, Omar Fateh got his scandal too — sort of. A proposed housing bill he authored raised eyebrows over ties to his wife’s company. It didn’t pass.
“The Star Tribune is working on a story about my wife that is not journalism. It’s about clicks,” Fateh posted. “It’s about manufacturing a scandal where there is none.”
It didn’t make the Star Tribune. But online rumor mills mistakenly tied it to the Feeding Our Future fraud case anyway. The clickbait machine coughed, the whispers spread, and suddenly “Fateh scandal” became a headline in search of facts.
“In all seriousness, scrutinizing public officials is absolutely fair game,” Chughtai reposted. “Attacking our loved ones is not.”
I rarely find myself at odds with Aisha Chughtai, but here we go: I agree with the first part wholeheartedly — public scrutiny is essential. But the second part? Not so much. When someone’s work intersects with public dollars, that scrutiny doesn’t stop at home.
A satirical recreation of the 2004 movie The Manchurian Candidate, but with Denzel Washington replaced by Ward 7 hopeful Elizabeth Shaffer – Clint Combs Southside Pride
Sarah Clarke, Frey’s wife. She worked at Hylden Advocacy & Law, a firm led by Nancy Hylden — one of the attorneys who appeared in federal court alongside Aimee Bock, the founder of Feeding Our Future. Clarke abruptly left the firm after federal raids began. No charges, no official allegations — but also, no coverage in the Star Tribune.
Mayor Frey, for his part, hasn’t been offered a diplomatic escape hatch. He’s still running, still fundraising, still signaling to donors whose politics lean more DeSantis than DFL. Frey may not be working with Trump, but plenty of his allies don’t mind working with Republicans — especially if it helps flip the Minneapolis City Council.
Because here’s the real play: even if Frey wins a third term, he wants allies in power. Not another progressive council. Not another blockade.
So let’s go ward by ward.
Ward 2: Democratic Socialist Robin Wonsley is being challenged by Michael Baskins and Shelley Madore, both backed by real estate money and conservative-aligned donors. Wonsley has been a loud advocate for tenant protections. That made her a problem.
There’s more to this story. Landlord John Wall was fined for denying the Wonsley campaign access to Malcolm Flatt’s Apartments, an act that seemed less about safety and more about control. Wall’s wife, Patricia Wall, reportedly asked in a PAC Zoom call — alongside Joe Radinovich — whether they could allow Shelley Madore in while keeping Wonsley out. Radinovich allegedly said they “had to allow Wonsley at some point” — but could drag their feet. It was never about safety. It was about control.
Ward 5: Jeremiah Ellison is stepping down. Progressives are backing Enthropic Burnett, a community organizer with a track record of confronting landlords. Freyworld donors are countering with Pearll Warren and Miles Wilson, who are pitching “stability” — code for “no rent control.”
Ward 7: This is the toss-up. Incumbent Katie Cashman lost DFL endorsement, but Elizabeth Shafer is attracting quiet money. Lisa Goodman, the outgoing council member, was reportedly “holding checks” from donors who didn’t want to give to the DFL — but had no issue funding Shaffer.
Ward 8: Activist Soren Stevenson is running to replace Andrea Jenkins. He lost an eye protesting police violence. He supports rent control and police divestment. That’s two red flags. Frey allies are hoping Josh Bassais can take the seat instead.
Ward 10: Chughtai again. She once said “Fuck Frey, fuck racism, fuck Donald Trump” at a concert. That clip got 15,000 views. That was enough for Frey’s donor class to start cutting checks against her.
And who’s coordinating this quiet coup?
That would be Joe Radinovich, former Frey campaign manager and now PAC mastermind. He previously ran We Love Minneapolis like a weekend hobby. Now he’s managing Thrive Minneapolis — same donors, same strategy: flip the council, keep the mayor comfortable.
The state’s campaign finance board fined Radinovich $4,000 for failing to disclose $107,000 in PAC money — including $72,000 from the Minnesota Multi Housing Association and $35,000 from the Downtown Council. None of the major local outlets covered it.
But when Fateh was fined $500 for printing “DFL-endorsed” signs too early? Fox 9 ran it — and it got 13,000 views.
Meanwhile, a leaked call from the PAC All of Minneapolis, obtained by independent journalist Taylor Dahlin, revealed the real strategy. (Dahlin has raised concerns that major publications have repeatedly failed to report on these issues. She provided a copy of the recordings to these outlets, but says they declined to report on them.)
“Our lane is clear… we want to own the negative messaging against Fateh. He’s highly unknown. The polls show us that. We want to define the stakes of this race.”
Another voice added:
“If you could’ve written it from the beginning that he was endorsed but got it stripped because he didn’t play by the rules, it’s actually better than Frey being endorsed in the first place.”
It’s a special kind of genius: sabotage the endorsement, then campaign on the fact that he lost it. Those same donors could spend big money in down-ballot races to shift control of the state legislature towards Republicans.
Democracy in action.
