Page 1 of 9
Minneapolis 2021 Elections - Mayor, City Council, BET, Park Board
Posted: December 27th, 2020, 10:08 am
by Blaisdell Greenway
For those not aware, David Brauer is keeping a list of all 2021 Minneapolis Municipal candidates here: tinyurl.com/minneapolis21
Great way to keep track since there will be 25 offices up for election in 2021.
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: December 27th, 2020, 11:03 am
by Silophant
Interesting that Ward 10 is shaping up to be the clown car race of 2021, instead of the more traditional mayor's race.
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: December 27th, 2020, 4:21 pm
by EOst
Especially since Ward 10 is definitely one of the city's most overpopulated wards, and whoever gets elected in 2021 will be running in a very different district in 2023.
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: December 27th, 2020, 8:37 pm
by alexschief
The lack of a challenger in Ward 1 is the oddest thing about 2021 to me. In 2017, Reich survived by a smaller margin than any incumbent. Maybe someone has been preparing a challenge to him and will announce, but it's certainly strange to me that they haven't done so yet. I figured that seat would be another grind.
The number of candidates in Ward 10 isn't surprising to me, but what is surprising is how quickly they emerged. Maybe Bender's intention to not run again was more commonly known than I thought, or maybe people just moved quickly. I doubt people were lining up to challenge her, at least from the left, before she made her announcement.
As far as I can tell, in Ward 10 there are two serious candidates running in the "moderate" lane (Parsons and Wheeler), two running in the "progressive" lane (Jones and Chughtai), and one (Gibson) running what looks to me like a totally incoherent platform of happy talk without substance.
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: December 29th, 2020, 10:57 am
by amiller92
Vetaw announced in Ward 4 in the "listen and put to residents' voices first" lane.
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: March 3rd, 2021, 9:04 am
by Blaisdell Greenway
Local party chair checking in. You've probably heard/assumed the endorsements will be online this year. Details on the 2021 process are live at
www.minneapolisdfl.org. Pretty easy - sign up in April, vote for delegates in mid-May, participate in the conventions early June if you're elected a delegate. Only date to remember is you have the whole month of April to sign up. Ballots and links to everything else will come to your email inbox.
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: March 14th, 2021, 3:54 pm
by twincitizen
Since you're here, can I ask why the Minneapolis DFL insists on giving endorsement to just a single candidate in each race? In a basically one-party town, with ranked-choice elections, I'd very much prefer a system where the Mpls DFL endorses all candidates that agree to a platform or central tenets and meet a certain threshold of support. I'll wait and see how this year's online process goes, but I'm not ever planning on attending another ward convention or citywide convention that sticks to the terrible practice of multiple rounds of balloting, wasting an entire day of people's time with a confusing and unwelcoming process, which more often than not leads to "no endorsement". Literally no one enjoys or defends that endorsement process, yet it endures...and it's really hard to understand why. If you don't agree with allowing endorsement of multiple candidates, then we need to move to a single-round, ranked-choice endorsement contest.
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: March 15th, 2021, 8:28 am
by EOst
Literally no one enjoys or defends that endorsement process, yet it endures...and it's really hard to understand why.
Plenty of people enjoy it. It's an interesting game for a day.
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: March 15th, 2021, 10:59 am
by MNdible
It's truly the worst.
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: March 15th, 2021, 6:41 pm
by twincitizen
Plenty of people enjoy it. It's an interesting game for a day.
Basically the same couple hundred nerds playing kingmaker every 4 years. Out of a couple hundred thousand voters. Indefensible anti-democratic system.
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: March 16th, 2021, 7:49 am
by fehler
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: March 16th, 2021, 2:19 pm
by Blaisdell Greenway
Since you're here, can I ask why the Minneapolis DFL insists on giving endorsement to just a single candidate in each race? In a basically one-party town, with ranked-choice elections, I'd very much prefer a system where the Mpls DFL endorses all candidates that agree to a platform or central tenets and meet a certain threshold of support. I'll wait and see how this year's online process goes, but I'm not ever planning on attending another ward convention or citywide convention that sticks to the terrible practice of multiple rounds of balloting, wasting an entire day of people's time with a confusing and unwelcoming process, which more often than not leads to "no endorsement". Literally no one enjoys or defends that endorsement process, yet it endures...and it's really hard to understand why. If you don't agree with allowing endorsement of multiple candidates, then we need to move to a single-round, ranked-choice endorsement contest.
Short answer to your question is Minneapolis process follows the state party process which follows the national party process. While I prefer more flexibility myself, "that's the way it's always been" is the rule we have to follow or we don't exist as a party unit. For example, this year we developed and proposed a one-step process of approval voting for candidates. It was legit really awesome and pretty much everyone in Minneapolis I spoke with was into the idea/had already been asking for it like you just did. The state party said no, you gotta elect delegates at the precinct level. So we started over.
As for wasting people's time, well, that's what it's like when everyone else runs it. I've been chair for 3 years and still have not had an opportunity to put on an in-person convention and disprove that conventions must be shitty and on "random" days. We spent 2019 setting and advertising the dates for 2020-2021-2022. School Board endorsements are during even years and in 2020 we planned to have MPS students do performances during downtime, ask the candidate questions, and so on. For 2021 we planned to have a "seated" convention with people at tables instead of the auditorium. We intended to spend 5 figures on electronic balloting that would cut the whole thing in half, if not more. We still intend to do this in 2022, plus have a DJ and emcee. A lot has to do with getting the right convention chairs, and I'm pleased to say a number of younger people are now qualified to run a beast like a Minneapolis City Convention.
Part of it is also setting expectations. When the letter you get on caucus night says "Registration at 10 am, convening at 11 am" and the candidates don't speak until 1 pm and first vote is at 3 pm, people are rightfully angry. So be realistic about the timeline, and telegraph to people they can wait until after it "starts" before showing up, plus all the other things I mentioned to cut down time.
Caucuses are another story. There are 134 precincts in Minneapolis and therefore 134 caucuses. A Minneapolis precinct needs 4-5 volunteers in order to run smoothly. We are lucky to get 1 volunteer in some precincts. By nature, this is guaranteed to give an uneven experience throughout the city. We've identified ~10 precincts that are always wonky and plan to target them with investments (sound systems, translators, extra volunteers). But, we need volunteers. Many people show up, have a shitty experience, and vow to never participate again. Can't blame them but then you're left with the same volunteers year after year. Hoping this year will re-set people's faith in "the process."
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: March 16th, 2021, 7:54 pm
by twincitizen
Since you're here, can I ask why the Minneapolis DFL insists on giving endorsement to just a single candidate in each race? In a basically one-party town, with ranked-choice elections, I'd very much prefer a system where the Mpls DFL endorses all candidates that agree to a platform or central tenets and meet a certain threshold of support. I'll wait and see how this year's online process goes, but I'm not ever planning on attending another ward convention or citywide convention that sticks to the terrible practice of multiple rounds of balloting, wasting an entire day of people's time with a confusing and unwelcoming process, which more often than not leads to "no endorsement". Literally no one enjoys or defends that endorsement process, yet it endures...and it's really hard to understand why. If you don't agree with allowing endorsement of multiple candidates, then we need to move to a single-round, ranked-choice endorsement contest.
Short answer to your question is Minneapolis process follows the state party process which follows the national party process. While I prefer more flexibility myself, "that's the way it's always been" is the rule we have to follow or we don't exist as a party unit. For example, this year we developed and proposed a one-step process of approval voting for candidates. It was legit really awesome and pretty much everyone in Minneapolis I spoke with was into the idea/had already been asking for it like you just did. The state party said no, you gotta elect delegates at the precinct level. So we started over.
As for wasting people's time, well, that's what it's like when everyone else runs it. I've been chair for 3 years and still have not had an opportunity to put on an in-person convention and disprove that conventions must be shitty and on "random" days. We spent 2019 setting and advertising the dates for 2020-2021-2022. School Board endorsements are during even years and in 2020 we planned to have MPS students do performances during downtime, ask the candidate questions, and so on. For 2021 we planned to have a "seated" convention with people at tables instead of the auditorium. We intended to spend 5 figures on electronic balloting that would cut the whole thing in half, if not more. We still intend to do this in 2022, plus have a DJ and emcee. A lot has to do with getting the right convention chairs, and I'm pleased to say a number of younger people are now qualified to run a beast like a Minneapolis City Convention.
Part of it is also setting expectations. When the letter you get on caucus night says "Registration at 10 am, convening at 11 am" and the candidates don't speak until 1 pm and first vote is at 3 pm, people are rightfully angry. So be realistic about the timeline, and telegraph to people they can wait until after it "starts" before showing up, plus all the other things I mentioned to cut down time.
Caucuses are another story. There are 134 precincts in Minneapolis and therefore 134 caucuses. A Minneapolis precinct needs 4-5 volunteers in order to run smoothly. We are lucky to get 1 volunteer in some precincts. By nature, this is guaranteed to give an uneven experience throughout the city. We've identified ~10 precincts that are always wonky and plan to target them with investments (sound systems, translators, extra volunteers). But, we need volunteers. Many people show up, have a shitty experience, and vow to never participate again. Can't blame them but then you're left with the same volunteers year after year. Hoping this year will re-set people's faith in "the process."
Thanks for this thorough explanation! Sounds like you're doing the best you can with the system you've inherited. I was phonebanking for a candidate earlier tonight and had the chance to learn more about the virtual caucus/convention.
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: April 2nd, 2021, 4:23 pm
by twincitizen
Registration to be a delegate to the citywide and ward DFL endorsement conventions is now open until April 30. All online this year.
https://minneapolisdfl.org/
David Brauer is keeping a list of everyone that's running for all offices:
www.tinyurl.com/minneapolis21
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: April 15th, 2021, 8:58 am
by Blaisdell Greenway
We're halfway through the month now. Be sure to sign up to caucus this year if that's what you're into. You don't even have to talk to anyone to participate.
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: April 27th, 2021, 1:39 pm
by Blaisdell Greenway
One more push for caucus now that the deadline is approaching - Friday at midnight. caucus.dfl.org
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: April 27th, 2021, 1:51 pm
by seanrichardryan
Please don't let the DFL Senior Caucus pick the direction of Minneapolis for the next 4 years.
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: April 27th, 2021, 2:32 pm
by NickP
I signed up! Anyone else joining me?
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: April 27th, 2021, 4:35 pm
by MNdible
One more push for caucus now that the deadline is approaching - Friday at midnight. caucus.dfl.org
One more push for banning the caucus system forever because it's terrible and anti-democratic.
Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion
Posted: April 28th, 2021, 6:54 am
by EOst
One more push for banning the caucus system forever because it's terrible and anti-democratic.
Yeah, but what isn't?