In His Efforts to “Build a City That Works for All,” Omar Fateh Secures a Key Endorsement

This past Saturday I volunteered with the Omar Fateh for Mayor campaign at the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) endorsing convention in downtown Minneapolis. (NOTE: The DFL is affiliated with the national Democratic Party and is one of two state Democratic Party affiliates with a different name from that of the national party, the other being the neighboring North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party.)

I’m happy to report that Omar, a 35-year-old Minnesota State Senator, won the DFL’s endorsement for mayor of Minneapolis. Indeed, without any major organizational backing, he defeated the two-term incumbent Jacob Frey, who has the backing of Senator Amy Klobuchar, Governor Tim Walz, former Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton, and a number of other DFL party officials.

Over the last couple of days I’ve received a number of extremely negative responses to some positive comments I’ve made online about Omar’s recent endorsements (above) for Minneapolis mayor, including most recently the apple cart upsetting DFL endorsement.

Of course, these comments are nothing compared to the sickeningly racist (and at times threatening) comments that are being hurled at Omar. For more about this “racist and factless meltdown” by the right over Omar and his candidacy, see this previous Wild Reed post.

But I want to keep things positive this evening, and so share the following sampling of media coverage of Omar Fateh’s endorsement by the DFL. This coverage is accompanied by some of the photos I took at the July 19 DFL endorsement convention in downtown Minneapolis.

Omar Fateh won the Minneapolis DFL endorsement for city mayor over incumbent Jacob Frey at a convention at Target Center on Saturday.

The 35-year-old, who has been the senator for Senate District 62 – covering south Minneapolis – since his election in 2020, received more than 60% of the vote from delegates late Saturday evening, despite complaints from the Frey campaign about convention procedure and attempts to deny the party a quorum.

Fateh, a democratic socialist, is running on a platform including rent stabilization, boosting affordable housing, introducing a local income tax for the wealthy, and adopting a “compassionate approach” to homeless encampments.

“I am incredibly honored to be the DFL endorsed candidate for Minneapolis Mayor,” Fateh said following the announcement. “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, [one based on] 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.”

. . . The first round of voting saw Fateh get the support of around 43% of convention delegates, with Frey getting 31%, sending them both through to the second round of voting.

Rev. DeWayne Davis fell just short of getting the 20% of delegates needed to advance, while Jazz Hampton gained 4% and Brenda Short 0.35%.

None of the other candidates have indicated they would drop out in the event they didn't get the endorsement, but Fateh and Frey are expected to be the leading names in the mayoral race this November, which will pit the progressive branch of the DFL against the moderates.

– Adam Uren
Excerpted from Minneapolis DFL Endorses Omar Fateh
for City Mayor Over Jacob Frey
Bring Me the News
July 20, 2025

Minnesota state Senator Omar Fateh has won the endorsement of the Minneapolis Democratic Party for the city’s upcoming mayoral election, becoming the latest progressive candidate to gain traction within the party.

Fateh has drawn comparisons to New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who won the party’s nomination for New York City mayor last month.

Fateh’s campaign shared a statement with Newsweek via email on his behalf: “I am excited to further grow our coalition of Democratic voters who share a 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 has become the latest candidate to the left of the Democratic Party’s mainstream to rise within the party’s ranks, which could be seen as a growing willingness among Democrats to support more progressive viewpoints. . . . Fateh, a self-described democratic socialist and the son of Somali immigrants, is running on a platform that includes introducing rent stabilization, raising the minimum wage and combating police violence. Fateh’s platform is considered left of the party’s mainstream, similarly to Mamdani’s. The latter won the New York mayoral primary in a decisive win over former Governor Andrew Cuomo.

– Alia Shoaib
Excerpted from Minneapolis Democrats
Follow Mamdani Trend With Left-Wing Pick
Newsweek
July 21, 2025

A Democratic socialist member of the Minnesota state senate won his party’s endorsement for the Minneapolis mayoral race over the incumbent, giving momentum to the progressive left’s political rise.

Omar Fateh, a state senator from Minneapolis’s southside, beat Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, who served as mayor during the George Floyd protests and through the pandemic. Fateh gained momentum after Zohran Mamdani, also a democratic socialist and state lawmaker, won the primary for New York City mayor.

Fateh was first elected to the state senate in 2020 and won re-election in 2022. He was the first Somali American and Muslim elected to the chamber. He chaired the higher education committee and advanced a plan for free college for families who make less than $80,000.

. . . Like Mamdani, Fateh focused on affordability and has emphasized that he is a renter throughout his campaign – topics he has been committed to as state senator as well. There are some Minnesota twists: “We’ll shovel sidewalks, build shelters, and finally reopen public spaces,” he wrote on X about his platform. “I’m here to fight for the people this city’s left behind.”

Fateh has been attacked with racist and Islamophobic comments by rightwing commentators in recent weeks. Charlie Kirk, the leader of Turning Point USA, claimed there has been an “Islamic takeover” in the country and shared Fateh’s [campaign] video, saying people need to “commit to stopping all third world immigration.”

Fateh was born in Washington DC.

– Rachel Leingang
Excerpted from Minneapolis Democrats Endorse
Democratic Socialist for Mayor Over Incumbent
The Guardian
July 21, 2025

The Minneapolis DFL on Saturday endorsed state Sen. Omar Fateh to be the next mayor of the state’s largest city.

In a post on X, Fateh says he is incredibly honored to be the candidate endorsed 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,” he said. Fateh is currently running as a Democratic Socialist.

Current Mayor Jacob Frey’s campaign manager released a statement following the vote, saying, “This election should be decided by the entire city rather than the small group of people who became delegates.”

The Frey campaign on Monday submitted a challenge to the state DFL. The campaign in a news release said there was an “extraordinarily high” number of uncounted votes produced by the “highly flawed and untested” electronic voting system used at the convention. Frey is asking for the endorsement to be invalidated.

Fateh has represented the South Minneapolis area where George Floyd was killed since 2021. He’s championed the cause of UBER drivers, and has backed an additional tax for affordable housing, rent stabilization and a $20 minimum wage. In 2021, he supported a losing charter amendment that critics say would have defunded the police.

The state senator has had brushes with controversy. Like other political figures, Fateh had to return $11,000 of contributions with links to Feeding Our Future. In 2022, a Senate ethics committee complaint against him was upheld, and a second complaint was dismissed.

Fateh has pulled off a major upset before. In August 2020, he shocked the Minnesota political world when he defeated former Sen. Jeff Hayden in the DFL primary.

– Esme Murphy and Jason Rantala
Excerpted from Minneapolis DFL Backs
State Sen. Omar Fateh for Mayor
CBS News
July 21, 2025

Omar Fateh has won the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party nomination for Mayor of Minneapolis under a socialist platform. This victory follows his fellow socialist’s, Zohran Mamdani, stunning win in New York City, signaling a change in the political landscape among Democratic strongholds in large metropolitan U.S. cities. While Fateh and Mamdani have differing objectives and goals for their uniquely different cities, one thing that they do have in common is their aim to raise tax revenues to pay for their agenda and these tax raises primarily deriving from high-earning tax payers via a progressive local option income tax.

– Nathan Goldman
Excerpted from Three Key Ways Omar Fateh’s
Proposed Tax Hikes Might Impact Minneapolitans
Forbes
July 21, 2025

8/3/25 UPDATE: Earlier today Sen. Omar Fateh was interviewed by Sam Seder of The Majority Report. Following is the full 21-minute interview.





Related Off-site Links:
Minnesota Democrats Endorse Socialist Omar Fateh for Mayor Over Incumbent Democrat Jacob Frey – AllSides (July 21, 2025).
Who Is Omar Fateh? Mamdani of Minneapolis Faces MAGA Abuse – Kate Plummer (Newsweek, July 15, 2025).
CAIR-Minnesota Condemns Anti-Muslim, Racist Hate Targeting Sen. Omar Fateh Amid Rising Political Violence – CAIR-Minnesota (July 15, 2025).
Minneapolis Gets Its Own Mamdani – Kayla Bartsch (National Review, July 15, 2025).
Minneapolis Mayoral Candidate Omar Fateh Faces Racist Trolling: “Go to Mogadishu” – Times of India (July 14, 2025).
Omar Fateh Will Work Across the Aisle If Elected Mayor – Melody Hoffmann (Southwest Voices, April 2, 2025).


UPDATE: Sitting Down with Minneapolis Mayoral Candidate Omar Fateh – KARE 11 News (August 7, 2025).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• A “Racist and Factless Meltdown” Over Omar Fateh
• Omar | Jazz | DeWayne
• The Rational National’s Take on Zohran Mamdani
• A Timely and Important Conversation
• Dorothy Lennon: Quote of the Day – June 26, 2025
• What It Means to Be a Leftist in 2025
• Ted Rall: Democrats Are Not “the Left”
• My Summer of Supporting Progressive Down-Ballot Candidates
• Building Solidarity on the Left
• “No Kings”? Absolutely. But Also “No Oligarchy”
• Norman Solomon: Quote of the Day – June 16, 2025
• Peter Bloom: Quote of the Day – June 10, 2025
• Breaking the Mold: Why Progressives Should Push for Marianne Williamson to Lead the DNC

Convention images: Michael J. Bayly.