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Mayoral election in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2025)

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← 2021
2025 Minneapolis elections
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Election dates
Filing deadline: August 12, 2025
General election: November 4, 2025
Election stats
Offices up: Mayor
Total seats up: 1 (click here for other city elections)
Other municipal elections
U.S. municipal elections, 2025


Incumbent Jacob Frey (D), Omar Fateh (D), and 13 other candidates are running in the nonpartisan general election for mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 4, 2025.

Elections in Minneapolis are officially nonpartisan, but the Minneapolis City Charter allows mayoral and city council candidates to choose a party label to appear below their name on the official ballot. Ballotpedia includes candidates' party or principle to best reflect what voters will see on their ballot.[1]

Frey was first elected in 2017, defeating incumbent Betsy Hodges (D) in the fifth round of ranked-choice voting. Frey, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), says he is a pragmatic progressive.[2] He says, "I’m running because with everything going on in the world, experience matters. ... I have stood up for what’s best for our city even when it was not politically expedient to do so. It’s time for us to love our city more than our ideology. Together, we can make Minneapolis a national model for progressive governance that is laser-focused not on politics, but on delivering for residents."[3]

Fateh is also a DFL member who also says he is a democratic socialist. He was elected to the Minnesota Senate, representing District 62, in 2020. Fateh says, "We deserve leadership that makes it so people want to continue to live here, raise families here, and start businesses here. ... We need a Mayor who understands that a city that lifts up working people is a city that lifts up everyone. Because when the city invests in us, we have more time to invest in the people we love."[4]

While the city's mayor has been a DFL member since 1978, the election has highlighted divisions within the larger party, primarily between Fateh's democratic socialists and Frey's democrats.[5] On July 19, 2025, the Minneapolis DFL endorsed Fateh at a convention, which Fox 9's Kilat Fitzgerald said included the party's "symbolic vote of confidence, as well as volunteer power, to put toward [Fateh's] efforts to win the race."[6] This was the first time the Minneapolis DLF endorsed a mayoral candidate since 2009, as an endorsement requires a candidate to win at least 60% of delegates.[7]

Frey's supporters challenged the endorsement process, alleging there were issues with the electronic voting system. The statewide DFL reviewed the challenges and revoked the endorsement on August 21, 2025. Fateh said, "Twenty-eight party insiders voted to take away our endorsement behind closed doors. This group was composed of non-Minneapolis residents, Mayor Frey supporters, and even donors. This is exactly what Minneapolis voters are sick of: the insider games, the backroom decisions, and feeling like our voice doesn't matter in our own city."[8] Frey said, "I am proud to be a member of a party that believes in correcting our mistakes, and I am glad that this inaccurate and obviously flawed process was set aside."[2]

Party divisions predate Fateh's revoked endorsement. Following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, the Democratic city council disagreed with Frey on police reform, specifically on defunding the police.[9][10] According to the MinnPost, "A coalition of Minneapolis candidates fueled by left-wing energy and skepticism of the status quo at City Hall secured a majority on the City Council [during the 2023] municipal elections, winning seven of 13 seats."[11] As of September 9, 2025, five of the seven progressive councilmembers endorsed Fateh, as well as one councilmember, Jamal Osman (D), who was not aligned with either the seven progressive councilmembers or councilmembers who typically support Frey. Three councilmembers who typically support Frey endorsed him.[12][13]

Also running in the general are Andrea Revel, Troy Peterson, Kevin Ward, Xavier Pauke, Adam Terzich, Kevin A. Dwire, Charlie McCloud, Alejandro Richardson, Laverne Turner, Jeffrey Wagner, DeWayne Davis, Jazz Hampton, and Brenda Short.

Minneapolis uses ranked-choice voting to elect city officials. Voters can rank up to three mayoral candidates on their ballots. Click here to learn more about how ranked-choice voting works in this election.

Minneapolis has a strong mayor-council system. The city council serves as the city's primary legislative body and the mayor is considered the city's chief executive.[14][15]

Candidates and election results

Click on the tabs below to show more information about those topics.

Candidates and results

General election

The general election will occur on November 4, 2025.

General election for Mayor of Minneapolis

The following candidates are running in the general election for Mayor of Minneapolis on November 4, 2025.

Candidate
Image of Jacob Frey
Jacob Frey (Nonpartisan)
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Andrea Revel (For the People Party)
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Troy Peterson (Momunist Party)
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Kevin Ward (Nobody's Party)
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Xavier Pauke (Protecting Tomorrow's Dreams)
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Adam Terzich (Renaissance Party)
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Kevin A. Dwire (Socialist Workers Party)
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Charlie McCloud (Unaffiliated)
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Alejandro Richardson (Unaffiliated)
Image of Laverne Turner
Laverne Turner (Unaffiliated)
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Jeffrey Wagner (Why Not Wagner)
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DeWayne Davis (Nonpartisan)
Image of Omar Fateh
Omar Fateh (Nonpartisan)
Image of Jazz Hampton
Jazz Hampton (Nonpartisan)
Image of Brenda Short
Brenda Short (Nonpartisan)

Incumbents are bolded and underlined.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Minnesota elections, 2025

What's on your ballot?
Click here to find out!

January 14, 2025
January 28, 2025
February 11, 2025
August 12, 2025
November 4, 2025

Voting information

What is the voter registration deadline?

  • In-person: October 14, 2025 (or in-person on Election Day)
  • By mail: Received by October 14, 2025
  • Online: October 14, 2025

What is the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

  • In-person: None
  • By mail: None
  • Online: None

What is the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

  • In-person: November 4, 2025 (by 5:00 p.m.)
  • By mail: Received by November 4, 2025 (by 8:00 p.m.)

Is early voting available to all voters? Yes

What are the early voting start and end dates? September 19, 2025 - November 3, 2025

Are all voters required to present ID at the polls? No

When are polls open on Election Day? 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Candidate comparison

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Jacob Frey

Image of Jacob Frey

WebsiteFacebookTwitter

Incumbent: Yes

Political Office: 

Biography:  Frey earned a bachelor's degree in government from the College of William and Mary and a J.D. from Villanova University School of Law. He served as an employment and civil rights attorney, working for Faegre & Benson LLP and Halunen & Associates.


Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

Frey said, "I’m running because with everything going on in the world, experience matters. ... I have stood up for what’s best for our city even when it was not politically expedient to do so. It’s time for us to love our city more than our ideology. Together, we can make Minneapolis a national model for progressive governance that is laser-focused not on politics, but on delivering for residents."

As mayor, Frey said, "[W]e drove affordable-home production up 8.5x, and we held rent growth to just 1% since 2017, compared to 31% for the rest of the country. Our Stable Homes Stable Schools program has provided stable housing to approximately 6,000 MPS children across over 2,000 families. ... [W]e have reduced [unsheltered homelessness] by nearly 33% since 2020. ... But our work isn’t done ... we need to double down on affordable housing programs that work, make it easier to build more housing across our city, and limit the impact of property taxes through responsible budgeting."

On public safety, Frey said, "When calls to defund the police grew loud, most residents—and I—said no, because we need to improve and reform policing, not get rid of it. Now, police recruitment is up 133% ... today, violent crime is down citywide, and the number of shooting victims in North Minneapolis is at a decade-low. ... We also rolled out a 24/7 mental health response program and have invested in criminal justice reform initiatives like city diversion programs."

Show sources

Sources: Jacob Frey Mayor of Minneapolis, "Mayor Frey Announces Reelection Bid to Continue Building a Safer, More Affordable Minneapolis," January 29, 2025; Jacob Frey Mayor of Minneapolis, "Progress," accessed September 10, 2025; LinkedIn, "Jacob Frey," accessed September 10, 2025; Jacob Frey Mayor of Minneapolis, "About Jacob," accessed September 10, 2025

Omar Fateh

Image of Omar Fateh

WebsiteFacebookTwitter

Incumbent: No

Political Office: 

Minnesota State Senate, District 62 (Assumed office: 2021)

Biography:  Fateh received a bachelor's degree and M.P.A. from George Mason University. He worked for the City of Minneapolis, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and the Minnesota Department of Revenue. Fateh was a business analyst for the University of Minnesota upon election to the Senate.


Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

Fateh said he would work toward affordable housing by enacting a rent stabilization policy, establishing a Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, supporting the Affordable Housing Right of First Refusal ordinance, growing investments in programs like the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and the 4D program, and exploring publicly-owned social housing.

Fateh said his success as a state senator prepared him to lead Minneapolis. As a senator, he worked on: "funding free college tuition for tens of thousands of Minnesotans; securing a statewide living wage for Uber and Lyft drivers; investing $19 million dollars for public safety in Minneapolis; saving the 2040 Plan to make sure we are building more affordable housing; and ensuring a cleaner environment for all of us via the 100% Clean Energy Bill."

Fateh said, "Since Mayor Frey was elected, Minneapolis has become less safe and less vibrant. He has failed to house our unsheltered neighbors, failed to implement meaningful reforms to police, and he has vetoed one good solution after another. ... As our Mayor, I will ensure the City uses our budget to fund effective, compassionate public services that improve the day-to-day lives of our residents. We deserve better than Mayor Frey’s status quo. My vision ... centers transformational solutions for housing, community health, public safety, and working people."

Show sources

Sources: Omar Fateh for Minneapolis Mayor, "Why I’m Running for Mayor of Minneapolis," accessed September 10, 2025; Omar Fateh for Minneapolis Mayor, "Omar’s Vision for a City that Works for Everyone," accessed September 10, 2025; Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, "Fateh, Omar," accessed September 10, 2025; Center for Climate Integrity, "Omar Fateh," accessed September 10, 2025

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race has completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Ballotpedia is seeking 100 percent participation so voters can learn more about all the candidates on their ballots.

You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

Campaign advertisements

This section includes a selection of up to three campaign advertisements per candidate released in this race, as well as links to candidates' YouTube, Vimeo, and/or Facebook video pages. If you are aware of other links that should be included, please email us.

Ballotpedia did not come across any campaign ads for Jacob Frey and Omar Fateh while conducting research on this election. If you are aware of any ads that should be included, please email us.

Election competitiveness

Polls

See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls

We provide results for polls that are included in polling aggregation from RealClearPolitics, when available. We will regularly check for polling aggregation for this race and add polls here once available. To notify us of polls available for this race, please email us.

Endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

Click the links below to see official endorsement lists published on candidate campaign websites for any candidates that make that information available. If you are aware of a website that should be included, please email us.

Election spending

Campaign finance

Candidates in this election submitted campaign finance reports to the City of Minneapolis. Click here to access those reports.

Satellite spending

See also: Satellite spending

Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[16][17][18]

If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.

Election context

Mayor of Minneapolis election history

2021

General election

General election for Mayor of Minneapolis

The ranked-choice voting election was won by Jacob Frey in round 2 . The results of Round are displayed below. To see the results of other rounds, use the dropdown menu above to select a round and the table will update.

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 143,974
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

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.[19]

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.

Mayoral partisanship

Minneapolis has a Democratic mayor. As of September 2025, 66 mayors in the largest 100 cities by population are affiliated with the Democratic Party, 23 are affiliated with the Republican Party, one is affiliated with the Libertarian Party, three are independents, five identify as nonpartisan or unaffiliated, and two mayors' affiliations are unknown. Click here for a list of the 100 largest cities' mayors and their partisan affiliations.

Mayoral elections are officially nonpartisan in most of the nation's largest cities. However, many officeholders are affiliated with political parties. Ballotpedia uses one or more of the following sources to identify each officeholder's partisan affiliation: (1) direct communication from the officeholder, (2) current or previous candidacy for partisan office, or (3) identification of partisan affiliation by multiple media outlets.

Help inform our readers

Take our candidate survey

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At Ballotpedia, we believe that everyone deserves meaningful, reliable, trustworthy information about their candidates. We also know that good information—especially at the local level—is hard to find. That's why Ballotpedia created Candidate Connection.

We ask all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Our survey helps voters better understand how their candidates think about the world and how they intend to govern—information they need to feel confident they're picking the best person for the role.

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Submit endorsements

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Endorsements can be particularly helpful for voters trying to decide between candidates in local races, which often feature nonpartisan candidates. Endorsements from individuals and organizations can help voters better understand policy differences between candidates in these cases where little or no other news coverage of policy stances exists.

Candidates, share endorsements here. Readers, share endorsements you know about here.

Ranked-choice voting in Minneapolis

Minneapolis, along with several other cities in Minnesota, including St. Paul, uses ranked-choice voting for some city offices. The city first used rank choice voting in 2009, after approving the change in 2006.[20] Under a ranked-choice voting system, voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots. If a candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, he or she is declared the winner. If no candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated.

In Minneapolis, voters can rank up to three choices. According to Greta Kaul in the MinnPost, "When votes are tabulated, if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of first-choice votes, the candidates with no mathematical chance of winning are dropped as a group. Ballots with those candidates as their first choice are reallocated to remaining candidates according to their second or third choices. The process then continues, with the candidate with the least votes dropped after each round, until one candidate reaches at least 50 percent of the votes plus one vote, not including ballots that were exhausted because none of the choices they listed were still in the running."[21] Below you will find a handout on ranked-choice voting provided by the City of Minneapolis.[22] Click here to access the handout in several different languages.


About the city

See also: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota. As of 2020, its population was 429,954.

City government

See also: Mayor-council government

The city of Minneapolis uses an uncommon version of a mayor-council government. In Minneapolis, the city council serves as the city's primary legislative body while the mayor serves as the city's chief executive. However, the mayor has fewer powers with more limitations than most strong mayor and city council systems.[23]

Demographics

The following table displays demographic data provided by the United States Census Bureau.

Demographic Data for Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis Minnesota
Population 429,954 5,706,494
Land area (sq mi) 53 79,631
Race and ethnicity**
White 62.9% 81.6%
Black/African American 18.9% 6.4%
Asian 5.9% 4.9%
Native American 1.4% 1%
Pacific Islander 0% 0%
Other (single race) N/A 2.1%
Multiple 6% 3.9%
Hispanic/Latino 9.6% 5.5%
Education
High school graduation rate 90.4% 93.4%
College graduation rate 51.8% 36.8%
Income
Median household income $66,068 $73,382
Persons below poverty level 18.3% 9.3%
Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2015-2020).
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.


2025 battleground elections

See also: Battlegrounds

This is a battleground election. Other 2025 battleground elections include:

See also

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minnesota Municipal government Other local coverage
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External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ City of Minneapolis, "Common questions about filing for office," accessed September 10, 2025
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 CNN Politics, "Minnesota Democrats revoke endorsement of democratic socialist candidate for Minneapolis mayor," August 21, 2025
  3. ↑ Jacob Frey Mayor of Minneapolis, "News," January 29, 2025
  4. ↑ Omar Fateh for Minneapolis Mayor, "Why I’m Running for Mayor of Minneapolis," accessed September 9, 2025
  5. ↑ Mayor's Office, "Past and Present Mayors of Minneapolis," accessed September 9, 2025
  6. ↑ Fox 9, "State Sen. Omar Fateh endorsed for mayor by Minneapolis DFL," July 20, 2025
  7. ↑ The Minnesota Star Tribune, "Will the Minneapolis DFL endorse a democratic socialist for mayor? It could happen Saturday." July 17, 2025
  8. ↑ Instagram, "omarfatehmn," August 21, 2025
  9. ↑ The Minnesota Star Tribune, "Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey plans to run for re-election, and others might challenge him," November 4, 2024
  10. ↑ The Downballot, "Morning Digest: One of next year's top races for mayor is already a contentious affair," December 3, 2024
  11. ↑ Minnpost, "Left-wing coalition makes gains in Minneapolis City Council election," November 8, 2023
  12. ↑ Jacob Frey Mayor of Minneapolis, "Endorsements," accessed September 9, 2025
  13. ↑ Omar Fateh for Minneapolis Mayor, "Endorsements," accessed September 9, 2025
  14. ↑ City of Minneapolis, "Roles of Mayor and City Council," accessed March 11, 2022
  15. ↑ City of Minneapolis, "Government structure," accessed March 11, 202
  16. ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed December 12, 2021
  17. ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed December 12, 2021
  18. ↑ National Review.com, "Why the Media Hate Super PACs," December 12, 2021
  19. ↑ Minneapolis Star Tribune, "Elizabeth Glidden Won't Seek Re-election to Minneapolis City Council," December 12, 2016
  20. ↑ MPR News, "Ranked choice voting, explained," August 31, 2021
  21. ↑ MinnPost, "An internal poll showed Frey with a 19-point lead in the Minneapolis mayoral race. But in an RCV election, he could still lose.," October 26, 2021
  22. ↑ Minneapolis City of Lakes, "How to complete a RCV ballot," accessed October 27, 2021
  23. ↑ MinnPost, "With Minneapolis' weak-mayor system, does it really matter who gets elected?" August 29, 2013
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