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Aswar Rahman

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Aswar Rahman
Candidate, U.S. House Minnesota District 4
Elections and appointments
Last election
January 21, 2020
Next election
August 11, 2026
Education
High school
Minneapolis Southwest High School
Bachelor's
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Personal
Profession
User experience designer and filmmaker

Aswar Rahman (Democratic Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Minnesota's 4th Congressional District. Rahman declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on August 11, 2026.[source]

Rahman was a candidate for mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was defeated in the general election on November 7, 2017. Although municipal elections in Minneapolis are officially nonpartisan, candidates can choose a party affiliation to appear on the ballot.[1] Rahman ran as a DFL candidate.[2]

Biography

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Rahman earned a B.A. in history from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. His experience includes work in the office of then-Mayor R.T. Rybak and as a filmmaker, the director of web services for Triangle Park Creative, and the founder of the user experience and web development company Eloquent Design.[3][4]

Elections

2026

See also: Minnesota's 4th Congressional District election, 2026

General election

The primary will occur on August 11, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

Democratic primary

Democratic primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 4

Incumbent Betty McCollum (D) and Aswar Rahman (D) are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 4 on August 11, 2026.


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Republican primary

Republican primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 4

Paul Wikstrom (R) and Paul Xiong (R) are running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 4 on August 11, 2026.


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Endorsements

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2020

See also: Minnesota state legislative special elections, 2020

General election

Special general election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 60A

Sydney Jordan defeated Martin Super in the special general election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 60A on February 4, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Sydney Jordan (D)
 
87.4
 
1,879
Martin Super (Legal Marijuana Now Party)
 
11.5
 
247
 Other/Write-in votes
 
1.1
 
23

Total votes: 2,149
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Democratic primary election

Special Democratic primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 60A

The following candidates ran in the special Democratic primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 60A on January 21, 2020.


Total votes: 4,617
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Legal Marijuana Now Party primary election

Special Legal Marijuana Now Party primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 60A

Martin Super advanced from the special Legal Marijuana Now Party primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 60A on January 21, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Martin Super
 
100.0
 
69

Total votes: 69
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Campaign finance

2017

See also: Mayoral election in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2017) and Municipal elections in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2017)

Minneapolis, Minnesota, held a general election for mayor, all 13 seats on the city council, both elected members of the board of estimate and taxation, and all nine members of the park and recreation board on November 7, 2017. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was August 15, 2017.

Incumbents ran for re-election to all but two of the city council seats. Ward 3 Councilman Jacob Frey filed to run for mayor instead, and Ward 8 Councilwoman Elizabeth Glidden opted not to run for re-election.[5]

Minneapolis Mayor, 2017, Round 5
Candidate Vote % Votes Transfer
Betsy Hodges (i) - Eliminated 0% 0 −26,875
Raymond Dehn 42.8% 34,971 7,613
Al Flowers 0% 0 0
Jacob Frey - Winner 57.2% 46,716 7,348
Tom Hoch 0% 0 0
Gregg Iverson 0% 0 0
Nekima Levy-Pounds 0% 0 0
Aswar Rahman 0% 0 0
Charlie Gers 0% 0 0
L.A. Nik 0% 0 0
Troy Benjegerdes 0% 0 0
Ron Lischeid 0% 0 0
David Rosenfeld 0% 0 0
Ian Simpson 0% 0 0
Captain Jack Sparrow 0% 0 0
David John Wilson 0% 0 0
Christopher Robin Zimmerman (Write-in) 0% 0 0
Theron Preston Washington (Write-in) 0% 0 0
Undeclared Write-ins 0% 0 0
Exhausted 22,835 11,914
Total Votes 104,522 0
Note: Negative numbers in the transfer total are due to exhaustion by overvotes.


Legend:     Eliminated in current round     Most votes     Lost






This is the first round of voting. To view subsequent rounds, click the [show] button next to that round.

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

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Candidate Connection

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2020

Aswar Rahman did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2017

Rahman's campaign website highlighted the following issues:

Coming from a family of small business owners, Aswar knows this fundamental fact: there is no excuse for not being ready. Even though things rarely go exactly as planned, having an intelligent, realistic plan is crucial to progress.

Minneapolis’ needs are primarily in three departments.

PART ONE: ECONOMY
Aswar’s economic plan is the first step in building Minneapolis into a robust, equitable city. The biggest obstacle is our staggering poverty rate. Aswar’s plan:

  1. Free up $70m per year in city budget.
  2. Reserve 25% of that new fund.
  3. Invest $10m per year in MCTC low-income enrollment
  4. Invest $20m per year in universal pre-school enrollment
  5. Invest $10m per year in small business job grants
  6. Invest $5m per year in year-round youth employment
  7. Invest $5m per year in Empty Storefronts Grant
  8. Create annual assessment for minimum wage implementation

READ THE FULL ECONOMIC PLAN

PART TWO: SAFETY
Aswar’s innovations in public safety revolve around a smart reform of our policing methods.

  1. Create Civilian Majority on Review Panels
  2. Excercise Mayoral Authority to discipline or dismiss consistently unprofessional officers.
  3. Mandate Mayoral advocacy for civilian complaints.
  4. Partner with academic institution for data transparency and accessibility.
  5. Maintain direct whistleblower route to Mayor’s Office.
  6. Form a Non-Lethal Branch (NLB) to address low risk calls.
  7. Train supervisors to detect mental health issues in officers.
  8. Establish rotating 'light work' positions.
  9. Establish a doctrine of Constant Training.
  10. End self-insurance, require third-party professional liability insurance.
  11. Create residency incentive.
  12. Create youth employment positions within MPD.
  13. Launch career awareness campaign in public city school.
  14. Establish Mayoral responsibility for entirety of department.

READ THE FULL SAFETY PLAN

PART THREE: ENERGY
Aswar’s innovative Hundred Rooftops plan will transform Minneapolis into a clean energy leader.

100 rooftops.
288,304 solar panels.
10 Megawatts of power.
$8,661,798 of clean solar energy generated each year.

A system that pays for itself in under five years, generates civic revenue for decades, and most importantly, makes Minneapolis ten megawatts greener.

READ THE FULL ENERGY PLAN[6]

—Aswar Rahman's campaign website, (2017)[7]


Campaign finance summary


Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.


Aswar Rahman campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2026* U.S. House Minnesota District 4Candidacy Declared primary$0 N/A**
Grand total$0 N/A**
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Election Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

See also


External links

Footnotes


Senators
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
Tom Emmer (R)
District 7
District 8
Democratic Party (6)
Republican Party (4)