Jacob Frey wins reelection as Minneapolis mayor
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Mayor Jacob Frey at the Minneapolis DFL convention in July. Photo: Kyle Stokes/Axios
Minneapolis voters have reelected Jacob Frey to a third term as mayor.
Why it matters: In a triumphal election for Democrats nationwide, Frey won a deep-blue city on a moderate platform, defeating a field led by an ambitious democratic socialist who embodied the hopes of factions trying to push the party to the left.
- State Sen. Omar Fateh embraced the "Mamdani of Minneapolis" comparisons to the viral New York City mayoral candidate — but his campaign failed to bottle the same energy.
Catch up quick: A northern Virginia native and former attorney, Frey jumped from a City Council seat to the mayor's office in 2013 after defeating then-incumbent Betsy Hodges.
- Following R.T. Rybak and Don Fraser, the 44-year-old Frey is now Minneapolis' third three-term mayor since 1982, when the city's chief executives began serving four-year tours.
How it happened: Frey received the most first-choice votes, and election officials declared him the winner Wednesday after counting second- and third-choice votes. He received just over 50% of the vote to Fateh's 44.4%.
- Much like in 2021, a campaign from Frey's critics urging voters to rank all three of his leading opponents — Fateh, DeWayne Davis and Jazz Hampton — fell short.
Follow the money: Frey's campaign had overwhelming financial advantages, raising nearly $1 million — more than Fateh, Davis and Hampton combined.
- Allied PACs backed by business interests, landlords and developers also spent half a million dollars bolstering Frey, including more than $130,000 on anti-Fateh ads.
The big picture: Frey's allies will not control the City Council, despite many of the same PACs spending another $580,000 trying to swing several key council races.
- But the effort did manage to flip two seats, which could make it harder for the mayor's left-wing council critics to muster the veto-proof majority it's used to slow Frey's agenda.
Between the lines: In his decade-plus at City Hall, Frey has aligned himself closely with developers and business interests, championing a zoning plan that helped fuel a housing construction boom.
- He also ran as an advocate for the police department, touting efforts to reform the troubled agency, replenishing its depleted officer ranks and building a suite of alternative responses to 911 calls.
What they're saying: "A big part of effectively serving as mayor … is having the courage of conviction to do the right thing, especially when it's hard," Frey told Axios this year. "That includes telling people on our own side what they occasionally don't want to hear."
- Frey pointed specifically to his throwing cold water on a push to enact rent control or telling protesters outside his home in 2020 he would not "defund the police."
Friction points: Frey's council critics accuse the mayor of stonewalling its attempts at oversight and refusing to compromise on policy.
- One such disagreement emerged over Uber/Lyft legislation: Frey wanted a driver pay increase the rideshare companies could live with. The City Council pushed for more, and Frey claimed vindication when the state Legislature overrode them.
- Frey's critics also blame him for a series of tragedies, from the 2022 fatal shooting of Amir Locke in a no-knock police raid — a practice Frey claimed to have banned — to the persistence of encampments despite Frey's 2017 pledge to end chronic homelessness within five years.