2017 Minneapolis mayoral election explained

Election Name:2017 Minneapolis mayoral election
Country:Minneapolis
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:2013 Minneapolis mayoral election
Previous Year:2013
Next Election:2021 Minneapolis mayoral election
Next Year:2021
1Blank:First round
2Blank:Final round
Candidate1:Jacob Frey
Party1:Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party
1Data1:26,116
(25.0%)
2Data1:46,716
(57.2%)
Image1:Jacob Frey, Minneapolis City Council Member (23389742119) (cropped).jpg
Candidate2:Raymond Dehn
Party2:Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party
1Data2:18,101
(17.3%)
2Data2:34,791
(42.8%)
Candidate3:Betsy Hodges
Party3:Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party
1Data3:18,915
(18.1%)
2Data3:Eliminated
Image3:File:Betsy Hodges 2014.jpg
Candidate4:Tom Hoch
Party4:Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party
1Data4:20,125
(19.3%)
2Data4:Eliminated
Image4:File:Tom Hoch, Minneapolis MayDay Parade, May 2017 (cropped).jpg
Candidate5:Nekima Levy-Pounds
Party5:Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party
1Data5:15,716
(15.0%)
2Data5:Eliminated
Image5:File:Nekima_Levy-Pounds_-_Jamar_Clark_Press_Conference_(cropped).jpg
Mayor
Before Election:Betsy Hodges
Before Party:Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party
After Election:Jacob Frey
After Party:Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party
Map Size:150px

The 2017 Minneapolis mayoral election was held on November 7, 2017, to elect the Mayor of Minneapolis. This was the third mayoral election in the city's history to use ranked-choice voting. Municipal elections in Minnesota are nonpartisan, although candidates were able to identify with a political party on the ballot.

No candidate achieved a majority in the first round of ballot counting on election night. Jacob Frey was declared the winner the next day after several rounds of vote tabulations.

Background

2013 election

See main article: Minneapolis mayoral election, 2013. Betsy Hodges was elected mayor of Minneapolis on November 5, 2013, out of a field of 35 candidates, with her term beginning on January 2, 2014. In response to the large candidate field, the Minneapolis Charter Commission approved a referendum increasing the filing fee from $20 to $500.[1] The proposal was approved by voters on November 4, 2014.[2]

Campaign

In a blog letter dated November 7, 2016, a housing activist and longtime Minneapolis resident known as Captain Jack Sparrow announced his candidacy for mayor in the 2017 election; this was his third election campaign for office in the past 6 years.[3] Nekima Levy-Pounds, an attorney, civil rights activist, and former president of the Minneapolis NAACP, was one of the first candidates to begin their campaign, with an announcement on November 14, 2016. Hodges announced her re-election campaign on December 15, 2016. City Council member Jacob Frey and filmmaker Aswar Rahman entered in early January, while State Representative Raymond Dehn and theatre executive Tom Hoch announced their campaigns in February.[4] [5] [6] David John Wilson, an active member of the Democratic Farmer-Labor (DFL) party, entered the race during the candidate filing period in August 2017, but he declined to identify by party affiliation in favor of the stated principle "Rainbows Butterflies Unicorns".[7] Ian Simpson ran under the platform of the Idea Party, which asks the citizens of Minneapolis to pitch in their own creative solutions for change.[8]

Formal candidate filing began on August 1, 2017. Political parties held caucuses and conventions in the spring and summer, deciding whether to endorse a candidate for election. The DFL did not endorse a Minneapolis mayoral candidate at its July 2017 convention.[9]

On October 27, the Star Tribune editorial staff endorsed Jacob Frey for mayor.[10] This was followed by an endorsement of Frey by the Minnesota Daily on October 30.[11]

Candidates

Democratic-Farmer-Labor

Independent

Farmer Labor

Basic Income Guarantee

Socialist Workers Party

Libertarian

Rainbow, Butterflies, Unicorns

The Idea Party

Gallery

Results

No candidate achieved a majority in the first round on election night. Several rounds of vote transfers were necessary to determine a winner, a process which did not start until the next day.[36]

Candidates whose total votes in all ranked positions are less than the highest votes in first rank are immediately eliminated. In 2017 five candidates remained for the sequential elimination process.

data-sort-type="number"1 data-sort-type="number"2 data-sort-type="number"3 data-sort-type="number"Total
Jacob Frey 24.97% 19.90% 14.39% 59.26%
19.27% 18.67% 13.22% 51.16%
Betsy Hodges (incumbent) 18.08% 16.57% 21.57% 56.22%
Raymond Dehn 17.34% 16.51% 14.04% 47.89%
Nekima Levy-Pounds 15.06% 17.43% 16.31% 48.80%
Other or none5.28%10.92%20.47%

With four rounds of elimination, Jacob Frey was announced as the winner on Wednesday, November 8, at 2 pm, 18 hours after the polls closed.[37]

Candidate
Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5
data-sort-type="number" colspan="2" votes
(% of active)
data-sort-type="number" transfer data-sort-type="number" colspan="2" votes
(% of active)
data-sort-type="number" transfer data-sort-type="number" colspan="2" votes
(% of active)
data-sort-type="number" transfer data-sort-type="number" colspan="2" votes
(% of active)
data-sort-type="number" transfer data-sort-type="number" colspan="2" votes
(% of active)
Jacob Frey26,11625.0%+63426,75026.3%+2,73029,48029.5%+9,88839,36842.1%+7,34846,71657.2%
18,10117.3%+47318,57418.2%+5,45424,02824.1%+3,33027,35829.2%+7,61334,97142.8%
Betsy Hodges (incumbent)18,91518.1%+55219,46719.1%+4,04423,51123.6%+3,36426,87528.7%-26,875
Tom Hoch 20,12519.3%+78720,91220.5%+1,84222,75422.8%-22,754
15,71615.0%+47316,18915.9%-16,189
Charlie Gers 1,2331.2%-1,233
Aswar Rahman 7560.7%-756
Al Flowers 7110.7%-711
L.A. Nik 6120.6%-612
David Rosenfeld 4770.5%-477
Captain Jack Sparrow 4380.4%-438
Gregg A. Iverson 3350.3%-335
Ronald Lischeid 3250.3%-325
David John Wilson 2200.2%-220
Troy Benjegerdes 1840.2%-184
Undeclared Write-ins 1380.1%-138
Ian Simpson 1190.1%-119
Christopher Robin Zimmerman 10.0%-1
Theron Preston Washington 00.0%0
Active Ballots (% of Valid) 104,522 100% 101,892 97.5% 99,773 95.5% 93,601 89.6% 81,687 78.2%
Exhausted Ballots (% of Valid) 0 0.0% +2,630 2,630 2.5% +2,119 4,749 4.5% +6,172 10,921 10.4% +11,914 22,835 21.8%
Total Valid Ballots104,522104,522104,522104,522104,522
Source: Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services[38]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Rao. Maya. Minneapolis residents to vote on $500 fee to run for mayor. Star Tribune. December 4, 2016. July 3, 2014.
  2. Web site: Minneapolis voters scrap alcohol ratios, raise filing fees . Golden . Erin . November 4, 2014 . Star Tribune . December 4, 2016.
  3. Web site: Letter to Residents of Minneapolis Regarding My Campaign for Mayor of Minneapolis in 2017. 2017-04-03.
  4. News: Council Member Jacob Frey Announces Bid for Mayor of Minneapolis. Star Tribune. 2017-04-02.
  5. News: With an Eye on the Budget, Young Filmmaker Joins Mayor's Race. 2017-01-06. Southwest Journal. 2017-04-02. en-US.
  6. News: Tom Hoch Enters Race for Minneapolis Mayor. Star Tribune. 2017-04-02.
  7. Web site: Why is David John Wilson Running for Minneapolis Mayor. Wilson. David John. October 3, 2017. October 3, 2017.
  8. Web site: HOME. ideaparty.org. 2017-10-26.
  9. Web site: Minneapolis DFLers fail to endorse mayoral candidate. startribune.com.
  10. News: Editorial endorsement: Jacob Frey for Minneapolis mayor. Star Tribune. 2017-10-29.
  11. News: Editorial: The Minnesota Daily's Endorsement for Minneapolis Mayor. Minnesota Daily. 2017-10-31. 2017-10-30. https://web.archive.org/web/20171030174808/http://www.mndaily.com/article/2017/10/o-editorial-the-minnesota-dailys-endorsement-for-minneapolis-mayor. dead.
  12. News: Belz. Adam. State Rep. Raymond Dehn to Run for Mayor of Minneapolis. December 21, 2016. Star Tribune. December 21, 2016.
  13. Web site: Home. Raymond Dehn for Minneapolis. en-US. 2017-10-14.
  14. Web site: July 27: Arrest of Minneapolis community activist Al Flowers stirs anger. startribune.com.
  15. Web site: Minneapolis DFL. mpls.dfl.org. 2017-04-02. 2017-05-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20170507192501/http://www.mpls.dfl.org/. dead.
  16. Web site: Al Flowers for Minneapolis Mayor Bringing Truth to the People. truthtothepeople.com. 2017-10-14.
  17. News: Belz. Adam. Council Member Jacob Frey Announces Bid for Mayor of Minneapolis. January 4, 2017. Star Tribune. January 3, 2017.
  18. News: Tom Hoch Joins Mayor's Race. 2017-02-21. Southwest Journal. 2017-10-03. en-US.
  19. News: Tom Hoch Enters Race for Minneapolis Mayor. Star Tribune. March 9, 2017. Belz. Adam. February 21, 2017.
  20. News: Nelson. Emma. Hodges Announces Re-election Bid as Mayor of Minneapolis. December 21, 2016. Star Tribune. December 15, 2016.
  21. Web site: Mayor Betsy Hodges for Minneapolis Deliberate, Intentional Leadership. Mayor Betsy Hodges for Minneapolis. en-US. 2017-10-14.
  22. Web site: Civil rights Activist Nekima Levy-Pounds to Run for Mayor of Minneapolis . Furst . Randy . November 16, 2016 . Star Tribune . December 4, 2016.
  23. News: NAACP Head Nekima Levy-Pounds to Leave St. Thomas Law School. Star Tribune. 2017-10-03.
  24. News: Nekima Levy-Pounds for Mayor of Minneapolis. Nekima Levy-Pounds For Mayor of Minneapolis. 2017-10-14. en.
  25. Web site: Aswar Rahman. Rahman. Aswar. 2017-10-03. linkedin.com.
  26. News: Belz. Adam. Aswar Rahman Suspends Campaign for Minneapolis Mayor, Endorses Jacob Frey. November 3, 2017. Star Tribune. November 2, 2017.
  27. News: Gregg A. Iverson. Star Tribune. 2017-10-03.
  28. News: Belz. Adam. Jessie. Van Berkel. 23 Candidates File to Run for Mayor in Minneapolis, St. Paul. August 18, 2017. Star Tribune. August 15, 2017.
  29. News: Zurowski. Cory. L.A. Nik, 'Mayor of Minneapolis After Dark' Seeks Day Job as Actual Mayor. November 4, 2017. City Pages. August 17, 2017.
  30. News: Nightlife: LA Nik at night. Horgan. Tom. November 24, 2011. Star Tribune. November 24, 2011.
  31. News: KQRS' Tom Barnard enters National Radio Hall of Fame, praised for 'no B.S. swagger'. Star Tribune. 2017-11-10.
  32. News: Kritzer. Naomi. Mpls Mayoral Race: Benjegerdes, Dehn, Fry, Flowers. September 24, 2017. Naomi Kritzer's Blog. September 12, 2017.
  33. Web site: Socialist Workers Party Steps Up Campaigning Across the Country. The Militant. www.themilitant.com. July 24, 2017. 2017-07-17.
  34. Web site: Candidate for Mayor Election 2017 Rainbows Butterflies Unicorns, 2017 Election - Rainbows, Butterflies and Unicorns - Minneapolis, Minnesota David John Wilson for Minneapolis Mayor 2017 - Rainbow Butterflies Unicorns. Unicorns. David John Wilson for Minneapolis Mayor 2017 - Rainbow Butterflies. David John Wilson for Minneapolis Mayor 2017 - Rainbow Butterflies Unicorns. en-US. 2017-10-14. 2017-10-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20171014234053/https://www.daveunicorn.com/. dead.
  35. News: Ian Simpson. TEGNA. KARE. 2017-10-26. en-US.
  36. News: Smith. Mary Lynn. Melvin Carter is St. Paul's New Mayor; Jacob Frey Leads in Minneapolis. November 8, 2017. Star Tribune. November 8, 2017.
  37. Web site: Jacob Frey wins mayor election in Minneapolis. startribune.com.
  38. Web site: November 8, 2017 . 2017 Minneapolis Election Results: Mayor Ranked-Choice Voting Tabulation Summary . Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services.