Ward 7 race could shift Minneapolis City Council power
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Ward 7 Minneapolis City Council Member Katie Cashman (left) faces a challenge from Park Board Commissioner Elizabeth Shaffer. Photos: Kyle Stokes/Axios
The most expensive Minneapolis City Council election this year will test the incumbent's theory that her ward isn't as moderate as everyone assumes it is.
Why it matters: Ward 7 Council Member Katie Cashman has helped deliver huge victories for the left-wing coalition that controls the council and frustrated Mayor Jacob Frey's relatively moderate agenda.
- Cashman is one of three left-leaning incumbents whose reelection campaigns are being drastically outspent. Defeat for any of them could cost the coalition its veto-proof majority.
Catch up quick: Ward 7 includes parts of downtown and Uptown, and the affluent Chain of Lakes neighborhoods between the two.
- Cashman narrowly won the seat in 2023, filling a seat held for 25 years by the departing — and more moderate — Lisa Goodman.
State of play: Cashman now faces a challenge from Park Board Commissioner Elizabeth Shaffer.
- Shaffer had a nearly 2-to-1 fundraising advantage over Cashman in August, having raked in more than $122,000. (Updated totals are still being reported.)
Reality check: Cashman's moderate opponent in 2023 also out-fundraised her by a wide margin, but Cashman won 51% of the vote.
What she's saying: "The old guard in Minneapolis lost in '23 … and they want the seat back," Cashman said of the money.
- "I think that's a little shortsighted on their part," she told Axios, saying she's built a bridge between the council's ideological factions.
The other side: When the stakes were high, Cashman more often sided with the council's "activist/socialist majority," Shaffer told Axios. "I think Ward 7 is primarily in the other camp." Among Shaffer's critiques:
- Labor standards board: Cashman co-authored the union-backed proposal, and anxious businesses felt they "were held at arm's length" by the council, Shaffer said. (The mayor ultimately vetoed it.)
- Uber/Lyft: Cashman voted to reject Frey's proposal for a smaller driver pay increase — but the Legislature overrode the council and imposed statewide rates similar to Frey's. "That was a lot of time and energy," Shaffer contends, "and now the City Council has less power."
For Cashman, these causes illustrate core principles: "You get what you organize for."
- In both cases, workers "fighting for dignity on the job" brought large numbers and cases of compelling need to City Hall, she said.
- Cashman hasn't always sided with the council's left wing. She's broken with the coalition in cases she's found less compelling, pointing to her recent vote against requiring advanced notice of a commercial building sale.
Between the lines: As of late September, three outside Frey-allied PACs had spent $47,000 trying to swing the race to Shaffer.
- Cashman has the support of "Minneapolis for the Many," a PAC opposed to Frey. It hasn't officially reported any spending in the Ward 7 race, though at least one ad produced by the PAC attacking Shaffer has surfaced recently.
What we're watching: Turnout. Cashman argues Ward 7's reputation as a centrist stronghold only reflects which precincts have voted most reliably in the past. Her strongest precincts in 2023 (downtown and Loring Park) also had some of the lowest turnout.
- "If we have full turnout — absolutely, this ward is extremely working-class and ready to move in a progressive direction," she said.