Last week the Democratic Party in Minnesota took the unprecedented step of revoking the Minneapolis chapter’s endorsement for mayor, which went to democratic socialist state senator Omar Fateh after he won the overwhelming support of delegates at the chapter’s endorsing convention last month. You may recall that I attended this event as a voluteer with the Fateh campaign.
The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, or DFL, as the Democratic Party is known in Minnesota, cited a “flawed” voting process in its decision to revoke its endorsement of Fateh.
Fateh is taking on incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey, who is running for his third term. The democratic socialist has drawn comparisons to Zohran Mamdani, who clinched the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York earlier this year.
At its deepect level, the revoking of Fateh’s DFL endorsement is a surfacing of the long-standing fault lines within the Democratic Party that are increasingly threatening to tear it apart. They are fault lines between progressives and liberals/moderates, between the needs of the people and monied interests, between actual democracy within the party and a heavy-handed undemocratic approach by party elites and their consulting groups.
Back in 2020 these fault lines were readily seen both nationally and locally. The image above depicts prominent members of the Democratic Party, many of whom were candidates in the 2020 presidential race, as opposing members of the Avengers superhero group. It’s actually a play on the poster for the 2016 movie Captain America: Civil War. Progressives Bernie Sanders, Nina Turner, Marianne Williamson, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Jessie Jackson are pictured at left in opposition to “moderates” Joe Biden, Amy Klobacher, Pete Buttigieg, and Andrew Yang.
In Minnesota that year, the fault lines emerged in the contest between progressive Democratic state representative Ilhan Omar and her liberal (so-called “centrist”) Democratic challenger Antone Melton-Meaux. Just before the election (which Omar won), artist and community organizer Ricardo Levins Morales wrote a thoughtful and insightful commentary on the deeper meaning and signifance of the Omar/Melton-Meaux race. At one point he noted the following.
The deepest political fault line separating Melton-Meaux from Omar is the one between the struggle for inclusion and the struggle for transformation, a long-standing divide within colonized, exploited and marginalized communities. Inclusionists demand equal participation at all levels of the empire and its institutions while transformationists call for fundamental change. Under the racial capitalist politics of the United States, competition among populations is necessary to keep the threat of real solidarity at bay. The price of inclusion, therefore, is always betrayal.
Fast forward to today. Many Minneapolis residents feel betrayed by what they see as Mayor Jacob Frey’s record of broken promises, excessive vetoes, and loyalty to wealthy donors. These residents are ready for change, for the type of transformation that Levins Morales so eloquently spoke of back in 2020.
I’ll close with three more insightful perspectives on the Minneapolis mayoral race and what it reveals about the Democratic Party and its fault lines.
The decision to revoke Omar Fateh’s endorsement will ultimately harm the DFL party.
By withdrawing this endorsement, the party is effectively acknowledging that THEIR process was flawed. A process that was managed by DFL-selected officers.
This decision is both unfair and illogical. If the officers responsible, all dedicated DFL volunteers, erred in their actions and judgments, the appropriate course of action would be to suspend those individuals and outline a strategy to rectify their mistakes.
A truly democratic, equitable and intelligent approach would involve owning up to the oversight and allowing ALL candidates access to the advantages of the DFL endorsement. This embodies inclusion.
The DFL stands to gain significantly from endorsing all candidates. Especially when we have a good group of recognized Black leaders running. Their endorsement will encourage greater voter registration, greater voter participation in a highly democratic area, bolster party promotion, and enhance overall recognition and support of the DFL. Bringing more individuals into the fold translates to increased numbers, recognition and growth for the party.
It's truly disheartening to see how the prevailing deficit mentality of powerful people behind this decision is only sowing seeds of division, bitterness and discord. These actions threaten to further divide our communities and our collective efforts to grow the Party. It could have dire consequences for the DFL.
Omar Fateh’s campaign remains robust, and I firmly believe that this revocation will not undermine his standing; rather, it has galvanized our determination to back him even more wholeheartedly.
The DFL risks losing a substantial amount – its credibility and probably the enthusiastic support of critical constituencies. I’m worried about the Party's future.
– Patricia Torres Ray
via social media
August 21, 2025
via social media
August 21, 2025
The controversy around the DFL party nomination of Omar Fateh is illustrative of the fault lines around monied interests in politics roiling both the national and state Democratic parties, tinged with our own Minnesota brand of racism and classism. After all, if a white man named Jacob – supported by the corporate power structure – had won the party nomination no one would be complaining about the flawed process at the convention, and the process is always flawed. This is simply a case of corrupt Frey allies unwillingness to accept their loss and are blaming the process instead of the candidate's inability to garner support.
– Brian Geving
via social media
August 23, 2025
via social media
August 23, 2025
Related Off-site Links:
Rep. Ilhan Omar Condemns Party’s Decision to Throw Out Fateh Endorsement – Torey Van Oot (Axios, August 21, 2025).
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).
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Something to Think About – July 25, 2025
• In His Efforts to “Build a City That Works for All,” Omar Fateh Secures a Key Endorsement
• A “Racist and Factless Meltdown” Over Omar Fateh
• Omar | Jazz | DeWayne
• What It Means to Be a Leftist in 2025
• How Democrats Can Start Winning Again
• Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• “A New Chapter of the Democratic Party Needs to Begin”
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
• “We Must Challenge the Entire System” (2022)
• Will Democrats Never Learn? (2021)
• Marianne Williamson on the Contest Being Played Out by Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders (2020)
• Ricardo Levins Morales on the “Deepest Political Fault Line” Separating Democrats Ilhan Omar and Antone Melton-Meaux (2020)
No comments:
Post a Comment