Roper: Minneapolis council picks minority and majority leaders — and they’re both democratic socialists

Sign up here to follow this column by email.

Did you hear the news? The Minneapolis City Council now has a minority leader and a majority leader. And both of them are democratic socialists.

The council’s progressive majority began the first meeting of the new term this week by amassing power under invented titles, rather than extending an olive branch to the body’s moderate members.

Fresh off his re-election as council president, Elliott Payne’s first action was to expand the body’s “leadership team” to include a majority leader and minority leader. Then he proposed democratic socialists to fill both posts, infuriating the council’s moderate faction.

But the moderates, who are aligned with Mayor Jacob Frey, didn’t have the votes to stop it. So Aisha Chughtai and Robin Wonsley cruised into the new roles. And newly elected Council Vice President Jamal Osman went along with the plan.

It was a disappointing start to the council’s new term, especially since no one could quite agree on what these new roles even meant. Payne said it was left intentionally vague. But the city attorney emphasized that it didn’t have to do with political parties, since the council offices are technically nonpartisan.

Here’s how Payne described it: The majority leader would be responsible for building a “shared agenda” around issues that have broad consensus. And the minority leader would steer issues that aren’t as broadly supported through the legislative process.

But then Payne’s own pick for minority leader, Wonsley, chimed in that this wasn’t about representing ideas with minority support. She said the position reflected the “political diversity that does exist amongst this body,” by formally recognizing the council’s four democratic socialist members.

“Democratic socialism has been a growing political movement nationwide,” Wonsley said, adding that democratic socialism is not a political party.

Council Member Linea Palmisano noted that Chughtai and Wonsley almost always vote the same way.

“If the desire is political diversity, which I also appreciate, this is not expanding the leadership circle,” said Palmisano, the council’s longest-tenured member.

Newly elected Council Member Jamison Whiting attempted to nominate LaTrisha Vetaw as minority leader, but she declined.

So, for those following at home: The majority leader, a democratic socialist, is the steward of consensus issues. And the minority leader, a democratic socialist, is the progressive champion. And these aren’t partisan roles, except the minority member represents a political movement that the majority member also belongs to. Got it.

Oh, and the vice president ... well, he’s ready to step in to all this agenda-setting if anyone needs him. The VP has no formal duties in the city charter except in the line of succession.

It is true that the council once had a minority leader and a majority leader. But that structure dates back to a special mayor/council executive committee that appointed department heads, which required representation from a minority party on the council. Wonsley’s predecessor, Cam Gordon, was minority leader as a Green Party member. The committee was eliminated after voters gave the mayor more power in 2021.

Following the new council’s Jan. 5 meeting, I asked Payne to explain democratic socialists becoming both the minority and majority leaders of the council. Payne said Wonsley is the only independent (non-DFL) democratic socialist on the council.

“So I think she brings a very specific lens that would never be able to be represented by a majority view as a person who proudly carries that independent approach to the work,” Payne said.

“When you’re in the role of leadership on council, you know you have to work across differences,” Payne said. “She spent the last two years doing that work, and it wasn’t formalized.”

Palmisano had suggested that they delay the vote on the new leadership positions and consider better titles, such as second and third vice president. But the council voted down the postponement.

Payne conceded after the meeting that there was some validity to the concept of different titles, “but I don’t want to sit here and workshop an idea that exists already, that has a history to it, which is the minority and majority leader.”