Omar Fateh: “We Need to Meet the Needs of Working People”

Following is a great interview with the Minneapolis mayoral candidate I’m supporting.

Minnesota State Senator Omar Fateh made headlines in July when he won the Minneapolis Democratic Party’s endorsement for mayor as a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-backed, young Muslim going up against an establishment-backed incumbent. Fateh’s victory reflected and channeled Zohran Mandani-like energy, until the incumbent, Mayor Jacob Frey, challenged the result, and the endorsement was revoked.

It’s now less than two months until election day, and earlier today Fateh joined Briahna Joy Grey’s podcast Bad Faith where he discussed comparisons to Zohran, why Frey has lost the confidence of many Minneapolis residents, the contentious “Defund the Police” movement, and how best to handle the corporate media’s attacks on progressive candidates and policies.

I’ve seen that the Democratic Party has abandoned its values around labor and working people, and is too beholden to special interests and corporations. If we go back and speak to the needs of working people, I think that’s the winning message. It is exactly why Trump won in 2024; he ran on affordibility and people suffering in the grocery stores. Now, was he lying? Of course, 100% he was lying, but he knew it’s what connects with voters. [And we see now] the same kind of support for Zohran Mandani in New York City; he ran on affordibility. So we know what the winning message is. It’s just whether or not we want to run with it.

– Omar Fateh
September 11, 2025

To register for the above event, click here.

Related Off-site Links:
People “Are Tired of Backroom Decisions”: A Conversation With Minneapolis’s Omar Fateh – Peter Lucas (The Nation, September 5, 2025).
Omar Fateh Has All the Right Enemies – Alex Skopic (Current Affairs, September 5, 2025).
Minnesota Democrats Stab Omar Fateh in the Back – Concernicus (August 27, 2025).
DFL Reverses Omar Fateh Endorsement – Left Reckoning (August 26, 2025).
Democrats in Minnesota Revoke the Mayoral Endorsement of Omar Fateh – I Am Blakeley (August 23, 2025).
The State DFL Spits on the Minneapolis DFL – Steve Timmer (LeftMN, August 23, 2025).
Minnesota DFL Revokes Endorsement for Omar Fateh in Minneapolis Mayoral Race – Naasir Akailvi (KARE 11 News, August 21, 2025).
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:
• The Longstanding Fault Lines Within the Democratic Party Have Surfaced Again in Minnesota
• Mike Figueredo on the “Political Malpractice” of the Democratic Party
• 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
• Ted Rall: “Democrats Are Not the Left”
• 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)
• Marianne Williamson: “Anything That Will Help People Thrive, I’m Interested In”
• Ricardo Levins Morales on the “Deepest Political Fault Line” Separating Democrats Ilhan Omar and Antone Melton-Meaux (2020)