Mpls. Mayor-elect Hodges: ‘second-choice strategy’ was effective

Minneapolis Mayor-elect Betsy Hodges on Friday said asking voters across the city for their first or second votes in the city's ranked-choice voting system helped her win the election.

"I'm proud of the grassroots campaign we waged to talk to voters from all across the city," Hodges said in an interview on MPR's All Things Considered. "I think the second-choice strategy we had was very effective."

As mayor, Hodges said she'll work to draw more people to Minneapolis partly by building up the city's transit system, including light rail and modern streetcars.

"Investors want to come to rails in the ground more than bus tires on the street, because they know those rails are going to be there in a generation," Hodges said. "That means you can build a city around that, you can have people living here without needing a car, which is one of the things that the future needs."

In her first 100 days, Hodges said she'd work to implement her "cradle to K" early childhood programs and work to ensure city government is more responsive to the city's Somali-American community.

Hodges will take over the mayor's office in January.

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