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The Cities Blog
Curtis Gilbert

Cohen and Andrew lead Minneapolis mayoral money race

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Former Minneapolis City Council Member Dan Cohen, who last served in elected office in the 1960s, leads the mayoral money race in Minneapolis, having lent his campaign a whopping $285,000. Cohen is the only candidate funding his campaign almost entirely out of his own pocket.

Cohen also has the most cash on hand of any candidate, with about $100,000 heading into the final nine weeks of the campaign.

Mark Andrew, who served on the Hennepin County Board in the 1980s and '90s, came in close behind Cohen in today's campaign finance filing, racking up $272,000 in individual donations. Unlike Cohen, Andrew has not tapped his own wealth to finance his campaign. Andrew's cash on hand stands at $69,000.

Current City Council Member Betsy Hodges took third place in the money race. She raised about $210,000, but her report also shows her campaign running slightly in the red, with $54,000 in outstanding debt and only $51,000 cash on hand. Hodges has made three loans to her campaign, totaling $21,500, the bulk of which she contributed during the last few weeks.

The reports represent the first concrete look at the relative strengths of the campaigns. Collectively they hauled in more than $1 million since the beginning of the year.

Mayoral fundraising

City Council Member Don Samuels and former Council Member Jackie Cherryhomes were neck and neck with just over $100,000 apiece. While Cherryhomes has raised slightly more than Samuels, she also has more outstanding debt. If she paid all those bills today, she'd have just $22,000 to his $56,000.

Attorney Cam Winton had a somewhat smaller haul -- about $73,000. But his campaign has also been more frugal than his better-heeled rivals. That leaves him with $30,000 heading into the home stretch of the race.

Two more recent entrants into the race -- businesswoman Stephanie Woodruff and Park Board Commissioner Bob Fine -- came in far behind the other leading candidates with just $5,000 apiece.

That's the money horse race. Tomorrow, we'll take a deeper dive into the reports to see where the money came from and where it's going.