On Saturday, former New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman who AIPAC spent an unprecedented $14.5 million to defeat last year, stopped in Minneapolis for a quick rally aimed at get-out-the-vote volunteers canvassing in north Minneapolis for mayoral candidate Omar Fateh, and city council candidates Marvina Haynes and Ethrophic Burnett.
The election is next week on November 4 and voters in Minneapolis will be voting for mayor, the city council, the park board and for members of the board of estimate and taxation.
“I saw my brother received the Democratic nomination and support, but then a month later I see that support taken away,” Bowman told a crowd of roughly three dozen supporters at the offices of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, one of the unions that have endorsed Fateh. “It was not an accident because they always find some technicalities to take away things from people likes us.”
Bowman, a former middle school principal in the Bronx, first got elected to Congress in 2020 after unseating a 16-term incumbent, winning reelection in 2022 before the AIPAC money dump in the 2024 race unseated him for his Gaza ceasefire calls. In this year’s election cycle, he has been traversing the country stumping for progressive candidates like Omar Fateh who is trying to deny the incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey a rare third term.
Bowman told the audience he started paying more attention to the Minneapolis mayoral race after the state DFL revoked Fateh’s endorsement by the Minneapolis DFL, and after he met Fateh in New York.
“As soon as he (Fateh) walked into the room I sensed a presence, leadership, integrity and grace,” Bowman said. “And after I spoke to him, I sensed brilliance and a care for his community that we absolutely need to be represented as one of the leaders in our country.”
Bowman said he looks forward to celebrating twice on election night when his fellow New Yorkers elect Zohran Kwame Mamdani saying “I am going to be incredibly excited on election night at that party, but then I am also going to go into my phone and look up what the hell is going on in Minneapolis as we get him (Fateh) into office.”
Bowman urged the audience to see society’s challenges such as food insecurity and lack of housing or healthcare as “not inevitable. These are policy choices made by people in power, these are by design and not just now but historically our communities were marginalized, neglected and redlined on purpose”
He also gave a shout-out to the two City Council candidates present that are allied with Fateh, Marvina Haynes and Ethrophic Burnett. Haynes is running in Ward 4, seeking to replace incumbent LaTrisha Vetaw – an ally of Mayor Frey – while Burnett is running in Ward 5, currently represented by Jeremiah Ellison who is not seeking reelection. Councilman Ellison has endorsed Burnett as his replacement and his father, Attorney General Keith Ellison has done the same.
Haynes is the sister to Marvin Haynes who was wrongfully convicted for murder and spent almost 20 years in prison, before a judge vacated the sentence in 2023 through the efforts of his sister and the Great North Innocence Project (GNIP). Jazz Hampton, the other candidate for mayor, is a lawyer and entrepreneur and worked pro bono with others through GNIP to free Mr. Hayes.
Minneapolis uses Ranked Choice Voting to elect its mayor and city council. The three candidates for mayor, Rev. DeWayne Davis, Jazz Hampton and Omar Fateh have urged their respective supporters to rank the three of them as a slate, and not to rank Jacob Frey.
Mayoral candidate Fateh, who is currently a state senator, spoke briefly at the event about his platform and also thanked the gathered supporters.
“We are running on a vision of affordability, a public safety system that works for all of us and building a frontline defense” Fateh said. “We had a mayor (Frey) in 2017 that said he will end homelessness within five years but right now we have more unhoused neighbors that when he first took office.”
Fateh also said under his administration the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) will not be allowed to assist ICE.
“We have to strengthen our separation ordinance and for any reason we cannot have MPD collaborate with ICE period,” Fateh said. “I want to make sure we are not a sanctuary city in name only, but we are actually doing it in practice.”
After the speech by Bowman, he recorded a video for “Baddies for Omar” before volunteers went out to neighborhoods in north Minneapolis to knock on doors, and get out the vote for Fateh, Haynes and Burnett.
Vote Early In-person
Minneapolis voters can vote early in-person now through Monday, Nov. 3 at 5pm at the following location: 980 E Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55414.
There might be other Minneapolis locations that you can vote early at in-person. You can look them up at this Minneapolis Elections and Voter Services link.
On Election Day, you have to vote at your polling place, which you can locate using the Secretary of State polling place locator.
Author
About Tom Gitaa Gitaa, Editor-in-Chief
Born and raised in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa, Tom is the Founder, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Mshale which has been reporting on the news and culture of African immigrants in the United States since 1995. He has a BA in Business from Metro State University and a Public Leadership Credential from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He was the original host of Talking Drum, the signature current affairs show on the African Broadcasting Network (ABN-America), which was available nationwide in the United States via the Dish Network satellite service. On the show, he interviewed Nobel laureates such as 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner, Professor Wangari Maathai, the first woman from Africa to win the peace prize and heads of states. Tom has served and chaired various boards including Global Minnesota (formerly Minnesota International Center), the sixth largest World Affairs Council in the United States. He has previously served as the first Black President of the Board of Directors at Books for Africa. He also serves on the boards of New Vision Foundation and the Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium. He has previously served two terms on the board of the United Nations Association. An avid runner, he retired from running full marathons after turning 50 and now only focuses on training for half marathons.
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