Minneapolis City Council election results rundown: a nail biter and a more liberal council

[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: The political makeup of the Minneapolis City Council will become more liberal after election results today show progressive candidates likely gaining an edge in that body. Jon Collins is with us right now. It's been pretty busy here this morning, Jon. Looks like the big news right away is the results in Ward 8. And that is the ward that's been represented by Council President, Andrea Jenkins. What happened?

JON COLLINS: So she was challenged from the left by Soren Stevenson. And it was actually just a few minutes ago here, not long, that Minneapolis elections declared Jenkins the winner. And it was in the second-- they went through three rounds, I think, of balloting in the ranked-choice voting. And she was declared the winner by 38 votes.

So, I mean, you have to look at the context of this race. And Jenkins, when she was initially elected in 2017, was the first Black trans woman to serve in public office, and in the entire country. And she was seen as a standard bearer for representation, and for issues of equality. But especially in the last term, after she won the council presidency, some folks on the left got more critical of her, saying that she acquiesced to the Mayor, Jacob Frey, too often. And even accusing her of selling out their progressive priorities.

So that's really what fueled Stevenson's challenge to Jenkins. And the first hint that we really had that he was going to present a real threat to her came when he won the DFL endorsement. And then during the campaign, he mounted a pretty grassroots campaign with support from progressive groups and leftist groups, like the Democratic Socialists of America.

And he obviously tapped into something in the ward, because this turned out to be a very close race. And then another final factor that I think people need to remember is that outside groups poured a bunch of money into city council races across the city this time, and into this race in particular, because it was seen as kind of a bellwether for which direction the city was headed, whether it was going to be a more pragmatic and business friendly direction, or a more progressive direction.

CATHY WURZER: Well, I want to know a little bit more about the direction the city is going. What was Andrea Jenkins' arguments against allegations that she wasn't progressive enough?

JON COLLINS: She really ran on her record in office, the zoning 2040 plan, police accountability. She has really spearheaded the declaring racism a public health emergency in Minneapolis. And a bunch of other things.

And she said last night that her work is not just about policy, but it's about community.

ANDREA JENKINS: This is about spreading love. This is about bringing our communities together. This is about bridging the divides, the gaps that tries to keep our communities separated. But we are going to bring people together.

JON COLLINS: And Jenkins also did challenge Stevenson's credentials, his experience, his roots in the city, even. And Stevenson, on the other hand, talked about how he would, as a council member, really fulfill the potential of the city by making it livable for everyone, especially, for instance, centering the humanity of people who are experiencing homelessness here. And he said his campaign showed that normal people can fight back, even against big moneyed interests.

SOREN STEVENSON: We do want to see our shared values put into action. We want our shared values to be something that are represented day in and day out in City Hall.

CATHY WURZER: All right. So Andrea Jenkins wins re-election by just 38 votes. All the Minneapolis City Council seats were up for election. What else did you see across the city when it came to other races?

JON COLLINS: Cathy, we saw a lot of the incumbents come away with a pretty easy win. But a lot of the other races, especially those where there wasn't an incumbent that was running, really picked a younger, more progressive candidate against what most people would think of as a liberal democrat. But in Minneapolis, there were referred to as moderates.

And this might have implications. Things could always play out differently. But it appears that the progressives have won a majority. They kept all their seats, and they picked up a couple. One of the really interesting races was in Ward 7. That's where environmental advocate, Katie Cashman, beat realtor, Scott Graham.

And we just got those results this morning, again. Because it was so close that the ranked-choice voting went into a second round. And in the end, Cashman won by 177 votes. She said in a statement that she sent out this morning that she learned a lot during the campaign. She's hopeful for the future of the city. And she's honored to serve.

CATHY WURZER: You and I talked yesterday about Ward 12. That's in the-- what is it? The Eastern part of South Minneapolis. That was an open seat after council member, Andrew Johnson, said he was going to resign after a decade on the council. What happened in that race?

JON COLLINS: So Aurin Chowdhury beat Luther Ranheim pretty handily in the first round of voting. And Chowdhury's a policy aide, a community organizer. She got the DFL endorsement, as well as Andrew Johnson's endorsement. And she won with almost 54% of the vote on the first ballot.

And the interesting thing here is that Johnson has another job lined up. And he has said he's willing to step down early, and let the new council member take office sooner. This would obviously make an immediate change in the council, even before other new members are sworn in next year.

CATHY WURZER: We have about 45 seconds left here. And maybe this is an unfair question to ask you, with just not much time left. But you mentioned how the bent of the council is probably more progressive now. How will that dynamic then change some of the votes?

JON COLLINS: I mean, we saw a lot of really contentious 8 to 5 votes last term. Potentially, this could mean that the new majority in the council would take a different tact than the previous majority did. So they could change their relationship with Mayor Jacob Frey, who is now-- they serve under a strong mayor system.

Or this new majority could take a more collaborative approach, even with the mayor, to try to get their priorities addressed. I should say, they do not have a veto-proof majority. So there's going to need to be some collaboration.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Jon Collins, thank you so much.

JON COLLINS: Yeah. Thank you.

CATHY WURZER: Jon Collins covers Minneapolis City Hall for us.