Minneapolis mayor and City Council candidates are off to the races for this year’s election

Moderate Democratic group All of Mpls released its slate of endorsements, headed up by Frey for mayor; Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America released its endorsements, headed by Fateh for mayor; Congresswoman Ilhan Omar endorsed council candidates; progressive group TakeAction Minnesota endorsed Fateh; and Minneapolis for the Many endorsed council candidates, but not a mayoral candidate.

Mpls for the Many Chair Chelsea McFarren released a statement saying, “We are excited to see three really qualified candidates in Reverend DeWayne Davis, Senator Omar Fateh and Council Member Emily Koski and are looking forward to learning more about their visions for the city, confident that residents have several good options for a new mayor.”

A new political action committee called We Love Minneapolis is making waves, because it’s headed up by former Frey campaign manager Joe Radinovich and Andrea Corbin, who runs a flower shop.

Radinovich, a former state lawmaker, said the goal is to get more people to participate in the process that determines who runs City Hall. The vast majority of candidates endorsed by the DFL Party go on to win in November, but only a tiny percentage of registered voters participate in the caucuses, where residents choose delegates to represent the precinct at a ward convention. The delegates vote for candidates at ward conventions between April 26 and May 31, so they wield a lot of power in a city that’s overwhelmingly DFL.

“In many cases, there’s a decision made six months before the election by three or four hundred people in a gymnasium that, in a lot of ways, sort of predetermines the outcome,” Radinovich said.

While We Love Minneapolis sounds similar to All of Mpls, All of Mpls does more traditional work later in the year, closer to the November election.