Omar Fateh — a progressive Democrat — won the official endorsement of the Democratic Farm-Labor Party (DFL) on Saturday to become mayor of Minneapolis.
Fateh won the endorsement over current Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey, as reported by the Minneapolis-based KARE 11.
“I am incredibly honored to be the DFL-endorsed candidate for Minneapolis Mayor. This endorsement is a message that Minneapolis residents are done with broken promises, vetoes, and politics as usual. It’s a mandate to build a city that works for all of us,” Fateh said in a post to X on Saturday.
I am incredibly honored to be the DFL endorsed candidate for Minneapolis Mayor. This endorsement is a message that Minneapolis residents are done with broken promises, vetoes, and politics as usual. It’s a mandate to build a city that works for all of us. https://t.co/rU6v90TJPp pic.twitter.com/9KX3jSMvcP
— Omar Fateh (@OmarFatehMN) July 20, 2025
“November 4 is around the corner. Join our coalition of voters who share our vision for a Minneapolis where housing is a human right, public safety means sending the right responders, and city government stands for working people, not corporate donors,” Fateh went on to say in his post.
November 4 is around the corner. Join our coalition of voters who share our vision for a Minneapolis where housing is a human right, public safety means sending the right responders, and city government stands for working people, not corporate donors. https://t.co/KOI5dxeEsl
— Omar Fateh (@OmarFatehMN) July 20, 2025
Fateh has drawn comparisons to Zohran Mamdani, who just won the Democratic primary to become mayor of New York City. Fateh, who announced his run for mayor in December, is running on a platform very similar to Mamdani’s. (RELATED: MICHAEL GLASSNER: Socialist Fantasy, Urban Decay: What New York’s Mayoral Race Means For America)
Like Mamdani, Fateh said he would refuse to work with a “hostile White House” and would prohibit the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) from working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“Protecting all of our communities from Donald Trump means not letting MPD interact with ICE, whether it’s for an immigration raid or not. Our residents deserve a mayor who will stand up to Donald Trump and say, ‘No, not in our community,” Fateh said in a video posted to X on July 13.
My name is Omar Fateh, and I’m running for Minneapolis Mayor because for working people, it’s getting harder to build our lives in this city we love. To make an affordable Minneapolis that works for everyone, we need a Mayor that works as hard as we do. I’m ready to get to work. pic.twitter.com/CzYkmgKfxQ
— Omar Fateh (@OmarFatehMN) July 13, 2025
Fateh has also called for rent stabilization and to increase the minimum wage to $20 per hour by 2028.
“As a renter in Stevens Square with a full-time job on top of my part-time Senator job, and a baby on the way, I want to keep money in working people’s pockets and circulating in our local economy. That’s why I’ll work to implement a $20 minimum wage by 2028 & rent stabilization,” he wrote in his post on July 13.
As a renter in Stevens Square with a full-time job on top of my part-time Senator job, and a baby on the way, I want to keep money in working people’s pockets and circulating in our local economy. That’s why I’ll work to implement a $20 minimum wage by 2028 & rent stabilization.
— Omar Fateh (@OmarFatehMN) July 13, 2025
Mamdani has called for a $30 minimum wage along with government-run programs such as free grocery stores and busing.
Elections in Minneapolis are done via rank-choice voting. The DFL endorsement matters, however, because without it candidates often exit the race because of a lack of resources or pressure internally from the party, according to the Minneapolis Times.
Frey’s campaign team criticized the endorsement process that chose Fateh over him.
“This election should be decided by the entire city rather than the small group of people who became delegates, particularly in light of the extremely flawed and irregular conduct of this convention. Voters will now have a clear choice between the records and leadership of Sen. Fateh and Mayor Frey. We look forward to taking our vision to the voters in November,” Frey’s campaign manager Sam Schulenberg said in a press release Saturday, according to KARE 11.
Minneapolis’ general election will take place Nov. 4.
