By Eva McKend, CNN
(CNN) — A Minnesota Democratic committee on Thursday revoked the party’s endorsement of mayoral candidate Omar Fateh, a democratic socialist challenging the incumbent Democratic mayor of Minneapolis.
Fateh was the top delegate winner at Minneapolis’ Democratic Farmer-Labor Party convention last month.
“After a thoughtful and transparent review of the challenges, the Constitution, Bylaws & Rules Committee found substantial failures in the Minneapolis Convention’s voting process on July 19th, including an acknowledgement that a mayoral candidate was errantly eliminated from contention. As a result, the Constitution, Bylaws & Rules Committee has vacated the mayoral endorsement,” said DFL Party Chairman Richard Carlbom in a statement that also called for party unity.
It’s a blow for progressives in the city who championed Fateh’s victory and characterized it as a win for the Democratic Party’s left flank nationwide.
The Minneapolis DFL’s mayoral convention resulted in 98 people signing onto numerous challenges, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Supporters of incumbent Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey allege there were widespread problems with the July convention’s electronic voting system, among other issues.
“Our campaign sees this for what it is: disenfranchisement of thousands of Minneapolis caucus-goers and the delegates who represented all of us on convention day. The establishment is threatened by our message. They are scared of a politics that really stands up to corporate interests and with our working class neighbors,” said Fateh’s co-campaign manager Graham Faulkner in a statement.
“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,” Frey said in a statement. “I look forward to having a full and honest debate with Senator Fateh about our city’s future, with the outcome now resting squarely where it should — with all the people of Minneapolis.”
At a hearing on the challenges earlier this week, Minneapolis DFL officials maintained the state party should not intervene because Frey supporters couldn’t prove the system breakdowns impacted the outcome of the final delegate count during the convention, suggesting Frey would have still lost to Fateh, according to Axios Twin Cities.
A draft report released by the committee notes the challengers to Fateh’s endorsement did not have to prove alleged violations, or system breakdowns, would have led to a different outcome for the challenges to be examined by the state party.
The state party committee also took the significant step of barring Minneapolis Democrats from endorsing candidates by any other means in the weeks ahead, through its executive committee or otherwise. And the committee told city Democrats they cannot hold another 2025 mayoral endorsing convention as they will remain on probation for two years. Final findings from the committee’s review will be released Friday.
CNN has reached out to the Minneapolis DFL for comment.
“Frey’s PACs and loyalists know that us winning isn’t that much of a long shot. That is why they will try every trick in the book to try to silence and stop us. But we know that they will not succeed in halting our movement as long as we stand together. That’s why we’re running to build an affordable city, accountable to us,” added Faulkner.
If elected mayor, Fateh, a democratic socialist who currently serves in the state senate, has proposed enacting rent stabilization, disciplining and firing local police who work with immigration officers, and increasing access to affordable housing.
He is the first Somali American and first Muslim to serve in the Minnesota State Senate.
Frey is a two-term incumbent who led Minneapolis during the Covid-19 pandemic and the protests and unrest following George Floyd’s murder by a White police officer. He has positioned himself as a “pragmatic progressive.”
Frey has noted that he came in second place at the nominating convention in his last two successful runs for mayor.
But Fateh’s now nullified victory was the first time in 16 years city Democrats made an endorsement for a mayoral candidate in Minneapolis.
The decision could exacerbate divisions on the left as Fateh’s supporters view the move as an attempt to stifle an ascendant progressive voice. It’s a significant decision overseen by a state party chair relatively new to the role. Carlbom has only been serving in the role a few months after Ken Martin departed to lead the Democratic National Committee.
“It is unfortunate to see the state DFL party overturn a democratically held convention and capitulate to frivolous complaints, at least one of which was made by a known GOP donor, on behalf of the Frey campaign,” said Chelsea McFarren, the chair of Minneapolis for the Many, a progressive political action committee founded in 2023.
“I’m relieved and proud of my party,” said Jacob Hill, Executive Director of All of Minneapolis, a PAC that endorsed Frey.
“I think that the candidates can be compared on their own merits without an illegitimately gained vetting for one of the two,” he added.
This story has been updated with additional details.
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