In 25 days, voters will head to the polls in Minneapolis to elect a mayor. Incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey and State Sen. Omar Fateh are the two most visible candidates.

MINNEAPOLIS — After nearly eight years in office, incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey is making the case to voters that he deserves a third term.

“Now’s just not the time,” Frey said, “for on-the-job training.” 

His top challenger, State Senator and self-identified Democratic Socialist Omar Fateh, feels differently.

“When I speak to Minneapolis voters,” Fateh said, “they’re ready for a new direction for our city.”

On Nov. 4, voters will head to the polls under a ranked-choice system to decide between Frey, Fateh, and other challengers, including Rev. Dr. DeWayne Davis, Jazz Hampton, and Brenda Short. 

Frey and Fateh, however, are the most recognizable faces in a campaign season already marked by twists and turns. Over the summer, delegates from the Minneapolis DFL voted to endorse Fateh for mayor, but the Minnesota DFL Party revoked that endorsement after finding flaws in the electronic balloting system. Moving forward, there will be no endorsed candidate in the mayoral race.

With the election approaching in a little more than three weeks — and early voting underway — KARE 11 sat down with Frey and Fateh this week to talk about their priorities in the final days of the campaign. (Requests have also been made to speak with Davis, Hampton and Short in the coming days.)

Here’s where the candidates stand on the top issues.


PUBLIC SAFETY

Toward the beginning of his second term in 2022, Frey hired Brian O’Hara as the new Minneapolis Police Chief because of his experience working under consent decrees at his previous police department in Newark, N.J. 

Together, Frey and O’Hara have slowly added to the ranks of an understaffed force and are steering the department through a court-enforceable state settlement agreement, which mandates certain reforms to MPD in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. 

“The independent monitor has very clearly stated that Minneapolis is making more progress toward a foundation of police reform than virtually any city in the country,” Frey said. “So, for those who have said for years they want to see reform, it’s happening.”

Frey supports continuing to hire more police officers who “want to be the change.”

“They’re buying in,” Frey said. “We saw a 135-percent increase in the applications to become a police officer. We just brought on a 34-officer class. And the numbers are going up every single month.”

Fateh has argued that he’s a better candidate than Frey to implement ongoing police reforms, saying the current administration has not moved quickly enough to change the culture of policing. Fateh highlights his support of behavioral crisis and mental health response teams — something the Frey administration has invested in — as a centerpiece of his public safety vision. 

Fateh has said he does not agree with the national Democratic Socialist platform on police abolition, but instead would push for a system that included both police and alternatives such as crisis response teams.

“What we need to have, and have heard loud and clear from residents, is when you’re calling 911, you get a timely response and an appropriate response,” Fateh said. “Not every single call warrants an armed officer.”

The Frey campaign has been critical of Fateh’s support for a failed 2021 charter amendment that would have replaced MPD with a Department of Public Safety, as well as his previous use of a picture with the “Defund” slogan posted on a campaign website. 

When asked if he would propose cutting funding to the police department specifically, Fateh did not directly answer but noted the police budget had been rising for the last five years under the Frey administration.

“When I speak to neighbors, whether they fall under the category of, we need to add more police and increase the police budget, or the opposite side, whether they fall under defund or abolish, wherever they fall on the spectrum, nobody’s happy,” Fateh said. “The situation we’re in is not working for anyone.”


HOMELESSNESS

The issue of homeless encampments has been on the forefront of voters’ minds, in part because of the ongoing legal saga with an encampment on private property where seven people were shot this summer. 

Mayor Frey has led the effort to file litigation against the owner of that property, and his administration moved to clear the encampment, citing public safety risks. 

In general, Frey said his administration has cleared encampments only after offering resources and shelter to residents first. 

“Once the service has been offered, and declined, you gotta close it. Why? It’s not safe,” Frey said. “It’s not safe for the people in the homeless encampment, it’s not safe for the surrounding neighborhood.”

Fateh broadly opposes the clearing of encampments and has not said if there’s a scenario where he would close one. He called the policy inhumane and said the city is better served investing in long-term fixes.

“As much as the mayor and his administration like to do it,” Fateh said, “bulldozing encampments is not a solution.”


RENT STABILIZATION

Fateh and Frey differ significantly on the issue of rent stabilization. 

Fateh said the city should follow the lead of voters in 2021, who approved a measure exploring a rent control measure for Minneapolis.

“What we would want to work toward, is partnering with community and stakeholders around a policy that protects tenants, protect renters,” Fateh said, “and also learning from mistakes from other jurisdictions.”

Frey, meanwhile, has long opposed rent stabilization policies, calling them counter-productive. Instead, he has touted his administration’s investments in deeply affordable housing.

“I don’t support rent control because it doesn’t work,” Frey said. “It has not worked in any city that’s ever been tried, most recently in St. Paul.”


RESPONSE TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Earlier this week, Gov. Walz said the state was preparing for the possibility of President Trump mobilizing National Guard troops to Minnesota, calling it a “logical” step given the Democratic political makeup of the state.

Frey said the city is also working directly with Gov. Walz and the state “to make sure that we are prepared” in the event that the Trump administration were to take such action against Minneapolis.

The interaction between the local and federal government was thrown into public view back in June, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement was present at a South Minneapolis raid that ended up not having any connection to immigration enforcement. Frey repeated that Minneapolis Police do not cooperate with ICE, but can legally assist with crowd control, emergency response or property damage under the city’s current separation ordinance.

“We will not cooperate with either ICE or any federal agency around immigration enforcement,” Frey said. “Period.”

If Fateh were mayor, and the Trump administration attempted to send federalized National Guard troops to Minneapolis, he said he would “make sure we’re building a front line of defense as a city.” 

“Protecting everyone,” Fateh said. “Especially our most vulnerable populations.”