OAN Staff Blake Wolf
4:44 PM – Wednesday, November 5, 2025
Far-left Democratic Socialist Omar Fateh, dubbed the “Minnesota Mamdani,” has lost his bid to become the new mayor of Minneapolis, with incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey winning re-election to a third term.
Fateh, the first Somali American and Muslim elected to the Minnesota Senate, was initially the Minneapolis Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party’s endorsed candidate earlier in the race, following a hotly contested city DFL convention in July this year. However, the Minnesota state DFL later revoked the endorsement, citing procedural concerns and leaving the race without an official party-level endorsement heading into the November election.
Nonetheless, in the general election, conducted by ranked-choice voting, Frey ultimately defeated Fateh and several other challengers to secure another term as mayor. Frey, as the incumbent centrist Democrat, had faced opposition from the party’s more progressive wing, which viewed him critically on issues like police reform post-George Floyd and the BLM riots.
He did not appeal for a separate endorsement but benefited from the revocation, which neutralized Fateh’s early advantage.
Frey instead relied on individual endorsements and raised significantly more funds — $538,000 vs. Fateh’s $213,000 as of late July. He was endorsed by the failed 2024 vice presidential candidate, Governor Tim Walz (D-Minn.), and Frey openly vowed to keep Minneapolis a “safe haven” for illegal aliens in the face of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
Fateh, a close ally of the Democrats’ far-left “Squad” wing, ran on similar ideas to New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who is also a Democratic socialist. Fateh previously supported the “defund the police” movement, rent control, and tax hikes for wealthier Minnesotans to pay for his proposed socialist policies.
“Thank you, Minneapolise! While this wasn’t the outcome we wanted, I am incredibly grateful to every single person who supported our grassroots campaign. I’ll keep fighting alongside you to build the city we deserve. Onward,” Fateh wrote after his election defeat.
However, Frey is no stranger to progressive causes and ideals as well. In August, he condemned those “vilifying” the transgender community after the Annunciation Catholic school mass shooting, which was carried out by a biological male with gender dysphoria who identifies as transgender woman.
“I have heard about a whole lot of hate that’s being directed at our trans community,” Frey stated at the time. “Anybody who is using this … as an opportunity to villainize our trans community, or any other community out there, has lost their sense of common humanity. We should not be operating out of a place of hate for anyone.”
A video from an August campaign rally for Fateh at the Brian Coyle Community Center in Minneapolis went viral in late October, just days before the November 4th election, showing him waving a Somalia flag while speaking in Somali to a crowd. Fateh could be seen chanting phrases like “Somalia ha noolaato,” which means “Long live Somalia,” and he urged residents to vote for him in the upcoming election.
Fateh has previously stated that American capitalism is “a system that must be dismantled,” and he was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America — the same group that helped elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to Congress.
Despite Frey’s progressive tendencies, his victory over Fateh represents a rejection of full-scale socialism and more “woke” far-left policies in Minneapolis, at least in comparison to Fateh’s proposals.
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