GroupE Candidate Evaluation
2017 Minneapolis Mayoral Candidates
Reviewed by the Core Working Group on 9/20/2017
Jacob Frey won the Nov 7, 2017 election with 57% of the final 5th-round ranked-choice vote followed by Dehn, Hoch, Hodges, Levy-Pounds and all other candidates. He began his four-year term in office on January 3, 2018.
RECOMMENDED CANDIDATES
Group-E has not endorsed one candidate as several candidates are both aligned and strong contenders. In this race there does not appear to be a front runner (even though Betsy Hodges is the incumbent mayor). Group-E recommends these candidates:
Recommended Candidates: Betsy Hodges, Tom Hoch, Jacob Frey
NO ADVICE
These candidates are either 1) aligned with our Statement of Values but are not strong candidates or 2) only “mostly aligned.”
No Advice: Nekima Levy-Pounds, Raymond Dehn
NOT RECOMMENDED
These candidates either 1) do not align with our Statement of Values, or 2) are either unlikely or remote candidates and therefore we do not recommend them.
Not Recommended: Al Flowers, Captain Jack Sparrow, Aswar Rahman, etc.
Minneapolis Mayoral Duties
Official Duties
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Appoints representatives to a variety of agencies and commissions
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Nominates department head candidates for Executive Committee and Council approval
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Presides over Executive Committee meetings
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Proposes policy direction in the annual State of the City address
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Proposes the annual operating and capital budgets
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Reviews and approves or vetoes all Council actions
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Reviews and approves or vetoes all Park Board actions
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Signs all City contracts
Customary Duties
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Act as an ombudsman by attending to the individual needs of citizens for information, assistance or referral and improve the access of citizens to the decision-making process
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Ceremonial leadership through participation in a wide range of community and civic activities
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Develop and maintain communication with a network of public and private individuals, agencies and interest groups
Candidate Summaries and Evaluations
Candidate: Betsy Hodges, DFL
Group E Evaluation: Aligned, Strong Contender
Current Role: Incumbent Mayor
MPR News Summary:
Represented Ward 13 for two terms on the Minneapolis City Council. Endorsements from Council Member Lisa Bender, with a strong populist following, Sen. Al Franken, SEIU and OutFront Minnesota
Website Summary
Deliberate, intentional leadership with a clear vision.
Closing the gaps.
Mayor Hodges is leading on the greatest challenge of our time: to build an equitable city through transformational efforts to tackle and eliminate the disparities between white people and people of color.
Growing a city for everyone.
Mayor Hodges’ growth agenda is rooted in the proven, well-documented fact that inclusive growth is the most effective and beneficial growth model for our time.
Running the city well.
From her combined 11 years as Mayor and a City Council member, Mayor Hodges knows that racial disparities cannot be effectively addressed, nor can inclusive growth be sustained, if city government is not run well, with attention to delivering the basics well, innovation and constant improvement, and strict fiscal responsibility.
Shifted the center of gravity around public safety by investing more than $1 million into innovative community-led initiatives to improve safety on the ground.
August 1st Fundraising: Raised $258k
Candidate: Tom Hoch, DFL
Group E Evaluation: Aligned, Strong Contender
Current Role: former President of the Hennepin Theatre Trust
MPR News Summary:
Experience with organizations ranging from the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority to the Animal Humane Society
Website Summary
https://www.tomforminneapolis.com/
Let’s Lead with outrageous ambition.
Let’s Lead with urgent action.
Let’s Lead by putting the progress back into progressive.
Affordable Housing
PRIORITIZE PUBLIC HOUSING
PROJECT-BASED ASSISTANCE
INCLUSIONARY ZONING
AFFORDABLE HOUSING ACROSS THE METRO AREA
Public Safety
DISPROPORTIONATE ARREST RATES FOR BLACK AND NATIVE AMERICAN MEN
SANCTUARY CITY FOR IMMIGRANTS
INCREASE ARREST RATES FOR VIOLENT CRIMES
Jobs
MINNEAPOLIS NEEDS A PROSPERITY PLAN
ACCESS TO CAPITAL FOR COMMUNITIES OF COLOR
RE-EVALUATE JOB REQUIREMENTS FOR POSITIONS IN CITY GOVERNMENT
August 1st Fundraising: Raised $442k
Candidate: Jacob Frey, DFL
Group E Evaluation: Aligned, Strong Contender
Current Role: City Council Member
MPR News Summary:
Age 35. ...especially the parks and green spaces he's made a priority during his one City Council term
Website Summary
I'm running for mayor because Minneapolis is a city packed with potential, and I want to make sure that every bit of potential is realized.
1. Provide stable and affordable housing for all Minneapolis residents.
2. Put Minneapolis on track to be one of the greenest cities in America.
3. Create a Minneapolis where everyone is safe from both crime and police misconduct.
4. Grow local businesses that both provide stable, well-paying jobs and build wealth for the communities in which they are located.
5. Develop and implement a transportation plan that promotes public transit, and bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
August 1st Fundraising: Raised $360k
Candidate: Nekima Levy-Pounds, DFL
Group E Evaluation: Not evaluated. Viable candidate.
Current Role: Civil rights activist, former President of the Minneapolis NAACP
MPR News Summary:
Hopes to increase connectivity between north side and the rest of the city. "I've always had a heart and a passion for the inner city."
Website Summary
http://www.minneapolisfornekima.com/
Help create a paradigm shift in how we do business in the city of Minneapolis to ensure we close racial gaps in employment and economic opportunity, promote environmental justice, and reform the criminal justice system.
Address the affordable housing crisis
Advocate for environmental justice and urban agriculture
Promote economic equity and fairness for all
Early supporter of $15 Now
Spearhead criminal justice reform
LGBTQ+ Rights
August 1st Fundraising: Raised $20k
Candidate: Raymond Dehn, DFL
Group E Evaluation: Aligned & viable.
Current Role: State Representative
MPR News Summary:
I got involved in electoral politics, volunteering for the late Senator Paul Wellstone, and with then State Representative Keith Ellison. I was also awarded a Bush Fellowship, which I spent studying how people are affected by the way we build cities. All this led me toward running for and being elected to the State Legislature in 2012, representing District 59B
Website Summary
I am running for Mayor because we must remedy disparities entirely—our incremental approach is not working.
REMEDY SYSTEMIC INEQUITY
GENERATE COMMUNITY WEALTH
ACHIEVE AFFORDABLE HOUSING
CHAMPION PUBLIC EDUCATION
ESTABLISH ACCOUNTABLE POLICING
UPLIFT CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
TREAT SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND ADDICTION
August 1st Fundraising: Raised $55k
Candidate: Al Flowers, DFL
Group E Evaluation: Not evaluated. Unlikely
Current Role: Community Activist
MPR News Summary:
Two years ago, Al Flowers lost a daughter to gun violence. As a full-time community organizer, he said he does what he can to keep the city's youth away from drugs and violence. "Nobody wants to talk about what we are doing to ourselves in the black community, so I think it's important to get the city behind a gun violence initiative.”
Website Summary
Al Flowers brings various talents and skills to the community as well as Minneapolis politics.
Al Flowers believes that police accountability starts with the City of Minneapolis following the Federal Mediation Agreement between the Police Federation and the community.
Al Flowers reveals his New Housing Policy and Funding Platform at the Northside Minneapolis Mayoral Forum.
Al Flowers work includes organizing for the The North Minneapolis African American Housing Opportunity Survey in collaboration University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA).
August 1st Fundraising: Raised $6k
Candidate: Aswar Rahman, DFL
Group E Evaluation: Not evaluated. Remote.
Current Role: Filmmaker, businessman.
MPR News Summary:
Age 23. Smart usage of public funds. Effective and innovative public safety. Genuine economic empowerment for all.
Website Summary
The next mayor of Minneapolis.
Immigrant son of a single mother.
A businessman, artist, and born leader.
Aswar is what Minneapolis needs in its next Mayor.
Economy
Safety
Energy
August 1st Fundraising: Raised $14k
All other candidates. Not evaluated. Remote candidacies.
Jeffrey Sterling Olson, DFL
Troy Benjegerdes, DFL
Gregg Iverson, DFL
NONE FOUND
Basic Income Guarantee, Captain Jack Sparrow
David Rosenfeld, Socialist Workers Party
Charlie Gers, Libertarian
David John Wilson, Rainbow, Butterflies, Unicorns
Daveunicorn.com (NON FUNCTIONAL)
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