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Samuels is first to win via ranked-choice system
Samuels is first candidate to win office through counting of second choices in Minneapolis' new voting system.
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Minneapolis Fifth Ward City Council Member Don Samuels on Friday became the first candidate under the city's new ranked-choice voting system to win office through the counting of voters' second choices.
According to unofficial tallies released by city election officials, Samuels was reelected to his north Minneapolis seat with the second-choice ballots from voters who had listed three other eliminated candidates as their first choice.
His closest challenger, Natalie Johnson Lee, whom Samuels defeated in 2005, actually gained more second-choice votes from supporters of the three eliminated candidates. But because Samuels polled 47 percent on first-round choices, compared to 30 percent for Johnson Lee, he needed to poll fewer second-choice votes to prevail. She added 241 second-round votes to his 111.
"Tension, patience, anxiety and relief: All of those things I've kind of experienced at various times," Samuels said Friday of the wait for the vote tally. Statistically, chances seemed slim that he would lose the lead, he said, but "there was still that unknown factor out there. Plus, you can't celebrate until you're given the blessing."
Among the other Fifth Ward candidates, Kenya McKnight, Roger Smithrud and Lennie Chism, were eliminated from contention after the initial count under ranked-choice voting rules and their ballots were reallocated to the other candidates.
Samuels defeated Johnson Lee for the second straight election, after the two were thrown together for the 2005 election when they were redistricted into the same ward. Samuels first won a council seat with a partial term in the Third Ward, following Joe Biernat.
Samuels campaigned on a record of lower crime in the North Side and economic development in the W. Broadway Avenue corridor. He was supported by Mayor R.T. Rybak.
STEVE BRANDT AND SARAH LEMAGIE
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