Don Samuels won DFL endorsement for a second full term on the Minneapolis City Council on Saturday, but he was the second North Side incumbent in a week to be denied an easy victory at a ward-endorsing convention.

The Fifth Ward incumbent won 56.8 percent on the first ballot, crept to within one vote of endorsement on the next tally and bested first-time candidate Kenya McKnight on the third ballot in a ward that encompasses the southern portion of the North Side.

McKnight would not say directly whether she will file to challenge Samuels in the election. "My spirit is never tired," she told delegates. Supporter Al Flowers Jr. told youthful supporters that McKnight will run.

Last weekend, City Council President Barbara Johnson polled 54.7 percent on the first ballot in the Fourth Ward, but held on to top 60 percent and gain endorsement on the 10th ballot.

Some delegates have been offended by some of Samuels' more controversial public statements, including his rhetorical suggestion that North High School should be burned down for what he saw as its academic failures. He said Saturday that the school isn't closing, which set off a heated exchange between some delegates and onlookers. He apologized for making remarks that offend people, but added: "We need to raise our level of protest because our children can learn," he said. Mayor R.T. Rybak, lobbying delegates for Samuels, said of the North High remark: "I know it comes out of an incredible love for the kids in this community."

Samuel beat McKnight after successfully undermining her initial lead in the Willard Hay neighborhood, the precinct with the most votes. Knight, 32, is a 23-year North Side resident, a former resident of one of its public housing projects and a graduate of Patrick Henry High School. She works as a business consultant at Northside Economic Opportunity Network, has been a community organizer and formerly worked for Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn. Ellison's wife, Kim, spoke for McKnight's endorsement.

McKnight's priorities are keeping the ward's neighborhoods safe, its schools open, retaining its businesses, creating green jobs, preventing foreclosures and working to help the area to recover from them.

"She has the concerns of the people at heart," said Alana Ramadan, who has worked with McKnight. "She's a doer, not a talker."

Ramadan said she's concerned that Samuels has lost touch while at City Hall, citing some of his controversial statements. "You can't see things from the ground when you're in office for a long time," she said.

Samuels, 60, was first elected to the council in a 2003 Third Ward special election. He was redistricted into the Fifth Ward and defeated incumbent Natalie Johnson Lee in 2005. He rose to prominence in the Jordan neighborhood's fights against drug-dealing. He has emphasized making the North Side livable and safe, but also promoted economic development along W. Broadway.

"We're not talking incremental changes anymore. We're making quantum leaps," he told delegates. But some residents say his office has been unresponsive to their calls.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438#