The 5 races to watch in the Minneapolis City Council election

The elections this year for seats on the Minneapolis City Council will decide who runs the city‘s legislative branch: candidates aligned with Mayor Jacob Frey or the more progressive wing that currently holds the majority. The current math on the council has at times created a nine-member bloc capable of overriding Frey’s vetoes.

The issues at stake are straight from the headlines of the past few years, including housing, homelessness, public safety and property taxes. Some candidates have also promised action on the environment, minimum wage, bike paths and child care.

All 13 council seats are on the Nov. 4 ballot, but not every race will be competitive. Here are the five Minneapolis City Council races to watch:

In Ward 5, which includes the Harrison, Hawthorne, Jordan, Near North and Willard-Hay neighborhoods in north Minneapolis, six candidates have jumped into the race to replace outgoing Council Member Jeremiah Ellison, who has been part of the council’s more progressive wing.

None of the candidates won the DFL endorsement, but Pearll Warren, 49, a financial coaching manager at Habitat for Humanity, has won the endorsement of All of Mpls, a PAC aligned with Frey. She said she wants to create more affordable and sustainable housing, improve public safety and in general improve infrastructure and economic value.

Her strongest opponent will likely be Ethrophic Burnett, 53, a senior project manager and the choice of Minneapolis for the Many, an anti-Frey PAC supporting all four challengers in the mayor’s race along with a slate of council candidates. Burnett said she’s focused on public safety, supporting local businesses within the ward, and ensuring that the ward’s neighborhoods are clean, well-lit and that streets are maintained.

Warren (at $26,643) and Burnett (at $17,657) lead the race in fundraising so far, but while Warren has openly supported Frey’s campaign, Burnett said she’ll work with whoever wins the mayor’s race.

Cashman has the support of Minneapolis for the Many. She said she was motivated to run to increase the city’s housing supply, make transit more frequent and safe, improve public safety and accelerate the transition to green energy.

Shaffer has cast the race as a chance for voters to restore confidence in local governance, saying residents want a council that’s productive and meaningful. The race has seen the most prolific fundraising of any City Council campaign this year, with Cashman raising $84,309 and Shaffer $144,456.

In Ward 8, a district that straddles Interstate 35W in south Minneapolis and includes part of George Floyd Square, incumbent Andrea Jenkins is stepping down. For the past several years, Jenkins, a former council president, has become a reliable ally for Frey.

Soren Stevenson, 30, who works in homeless outreach, was the challenger who lost to Jenkins by 38 votes in 2023. This time, he’s campaigning with endorsements from the Minneapolis DFL, the Twin Cities chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, and Minneapolis for the Many.

Stevenson, who lost his sense of smell and his sight in one eye when he was struck by a projectile fired by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, said he wants to make public safety effective and trustworthy, to help homeless people get off the street, and to make the city a place where everyone feels they belong. He said he’d support any of the mayoral candidates running against Frey.

In Ward 10, which includes the East Bde Maka Ska, South Uptown, Lowry Hill East, and the Whittier neighborhoods, another incumbent faces a strong challenge. Council Vice President Aisha Chughtai, 28, a two-term council member who has openly clashed with Frey, faces Lydia Millard, 34, the executive director at the Stevens Square Community Organization.

Chughtai, who is endorsed by the Twin Cities DSA and Minneapolis for the Many, has called attention to what she says are regular attacks on people of color, the poor, immigrants, homeless people and renters, adding that she’s running so that she can continue to stand with working-class people to ensure their voices are heard.

Millard, who has the endorsement of All of Mpls, said she’s running to address the ward’s challenges, including Whittier’s high crime rate, constituent calls going unanswered, the closure of local businesses, and what she called “pet projects” in the city’s budget that have sent property taxes soaring.

Millard has also crushed Chughtai in fundraising, with $82,672 to $26,114 pulled in. Neither candidate secured the DFL endorsement for the race.

In Ward 11, which covers neighborhoods in the southeast corner of the city, another incumbent, Emily Koski, is stepping down and opening the way for three candidates.

The DFL and All of Mpls have both endorsed Jamison Whiting, 31, a Minneapolis city attorney. Whiting said he’s running because city residents deserve someone who works as hard as they do. He said he’ll work with whoever wins the mayor’s race, calling both Frey and mayoral candidate Jazz Hampton friends.

Challenger Mariam DeMello, 31, an aide to St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, said she wants to address the gap between rising property taxes and declining city services while confronting problems that make residents feel unsafe in their homes, schools and neighborhoods. She said her first choice for mayor is Frey.