FRSO Twin Cities: Minneapolis needs a new mayor

This November Minneapolis residents will once again vote for the next mayor of Minneapolis. Incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey has long been a darling of landlords, business owners and the owning class in our city. Frey not only won the last mayoral election but was voted in under a “Strong Mayor” charter amendment, expanding his sweeping powers over the Minneapolis Police Department to all other departments in the city.

Frey has used these powers, not to advance people’s initiatives brought to the city council or to increase police accountability after the murders of George Floyd and Amir Locke, but to be a stumbling block in the way of the people’s movements for liberation. In 2024, he attempted to use his veto power to block the city council’s ceasefire resolution written in solidarity with the people of Palestine. He continues to stand in the way of the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute’s purchase of the Roof Depot superfund site, a purchase overwhelmingly supported by residents. Frey has also empowered his police department to assist ICE agents in terrorizing our immigrant community, as they did during the federal raid on Lake Street this past June.

Frey’s coziness with capitalists and business interests has clearly harmed the working-class and poor residents of Minneapolis. He blocked the rent control ballot question in 2021, vetoed the establishment of a Labor Standards Board last year, and vetoed a minimum wage for rideshare workers. Despite campaigning on ending homelessness in Minneapolis, Mayor Frey’s response to the unhoused has been unimaginably cruel and ineffective. In 2025, Frey claimed there were only 27 unsheltered homeless people in Minneapolis. This is easily debunked by just looking around the city, and illustrates his lack of concern for our most vulnerable neighbors. Additionally, Frey’s policy of encampment sweeps that interrupt access to services and destroy people’s belongings makes it even harder for loved ones and case workers to help unhoused residents.

Frey also campaigned on public safety, but his track record on addressing police violence is shamefully bad. Amir Locke was killed just a few months after Frey’s promise to end no-knock warrants. He failed to use his power over MPD to fire Locke’s murderer Mark Hanneman, leading to Hanneman’s promotion to trainer, which was only corrected after community backlash. He has allowed Chief O’Hara to keep officers with multiple complaints and lawsuits in high-ranking positions, where they violate MPD protocols. Because Frey does not support officers’ paying for personal liability insurance coverage, our taxes continue to foot the bill for settlements after MPD abuses or kills residents. To address police brutality, instead of supporting common sense initiatives like community control of police, Frey creates symbolic positions like the Public Safety Commissioner, a city job with a six-figure salary that serves to rubber-stamp and excuse MPD’s misconduct. He also created the Community Commission on Police Oversight, a powerless review board whose main purpose is to redirect community outrage following police violence to a body with no power to discipline officers or change policy.

We at Freedom Road Twin Cities do not put our faith in electoral politics and recognize that there are limits to the people’s ability to exert pressure on the systems built to subjugate us. But we also know that elections are an important arena of struggle and that we must fight for the best conditions possible, so that we can join cities like Chicago in beating back Trump’s attacks. Jacob Frey’s tenure as mayor has shown us that he refuses to follow the will of his constituents. His recent move to pressure the DFL to rescind the endorsement of progressive opponent Omar Fateh is yet another example of this. He has already caved to the pressures of the Trump administration by allowing MPD to collaborate with ICE and has adopted the same racist and dehumanizing approach to homelessness and poverty. With a reactionary would-be dictator like Trump in office, Jacob Frey is the last person we need in charge.

By contrast, state Senator Omar Fateh has long been a strong voice supporting the people’s movements and the working class. He has publicly stood with victims of police brutality and supports public safety initiatives like community control of police, which would give residents the ability to elect a civilian oversight body with real power over MPD. He was instrumental in advancing a living wage for rideshare workers as well as supporting free college education for Minnesotans. He also partnered with community members and legislators to introduce the North Star Act, which would prohibit state and local law enforcement from aiding ICE. Perfect politicians don’t exist, but Fateh has shown a willingness to work with and listen to his constituents in a way few candidates have. We believe that our movements can make real progress under a mayor who doesn’t put all his energy into sabotaging our efforts.

FRSO Twin Cities is joining the people of Minneapolis in calling for a new mayor who is willing to work with progressives and movement organizers rather than undermine them. Whether residents support Omar Fateh, Jazz Hampton or DeWayne Davis, it is critical that they don’t rank Frey anywhere on their ballot.

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