2021 Minneapolis City Council election

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Minneapolis City Council election, 2021
Flag of Minneapolis.svg
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All 13 seats on the Minneapolis City Council
7 seats needed for a majority
Turnout54.0% (Increase2.svg 11.6pp)
 Majority partyMinority party
  PresidentLisaBender.jpg Minneapolis Police, Third Precinct Community Conversations (52811547087) (cropped).jpg
Leader Lisa Bender
(retiring)		 Robin Wonsley Worlobah
Party Democratic (DFL) Democratic Socialists (DSA)
Leader's seatWard 10Ward 2
Last election12 seats, 82.69%0 seats, did not contest
Seats won121
Seat changeSteady2.svgIncrease2.svg 1
Popular vote115,2773,061
Percentage86.0%2.3%
SwingIncrease2.svg3.2 ppIncrease2.svg2.3 pp
2021 Minneapolis City Council election.svg
Winning party's vote share by ward.
President before election

Lisa Bender
Democratic (DFL)

Elected President

Andrea Jenkins
Democratic (DFL)

The 2021 Minneapolis City Council elections was held on November 2, 2021, to elect representatives for all 13 wards of the Minneapolis City Council. These elections occurred alongside the mayoral race and several other municipal offices, including Park Board and Board of Estimate and Taxation positions. The council elections were conducted using a ranked-choice voting system, which allows voters to rank candidates by preference on their ballots. [1]

Contents

Amid a backdrop of significant local and national events, including the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, candidates across the wards ran on various platforms, addressing key issues such as public safety reform, housing, economic recovery, and the city's approach to policing. [2]

The DFL garnered an overwhelming 85% of the 1st choice votes, a 3 percentage point increase from the previous election. The remaining seat was taken by Democratic Socialist candidate Robin Wonsley (Ward 2), who beat incumbent Green Party council member Cam Gordon in one of the only two known Condorcet cycles in United States electoral history.

Overall, moderates gained a net one seat on the 13-member council. This change suggests that moderates will have increased influence over key decisions on issues such as police reform and rent control. [3] While progressives managed to secure seats in Wards 1 and 9, they suffered losses in Wards 3, 4, and 11, where moderate challengers defeated progressive incumbents who had supported the now-failed charter amendment to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department. [4]

Retiring members

DFL

Candidates

WardIncumbentCandidates
NamePartyFirst electedNamePartyParty endorsement
1Kevin ReichDFL 2009 Elliott Payne DFLMinneapolis DFL
Kevin ReichDFL
Calvin CarpenterVeterans
Thomas WortmanDFL
2 Cam Gordon Green2005 Cam Gordon GreenFifth District Green Party
Robin Wonsley Worlobah DSATwin Cities DSA [7]
Yusra ArabDFL
Tom AndersonDFL
Guy T. GaskinRepublican
3Steve FletcherDFL2017Steve FletcherDFL
Hope HennesseyIndependent
Merv MoorheadDFL
Michael Rainville DFL
4 Phillipe Cunningham DFL2017 Phillipe Cunningham DFLMinneapolis DFL
LaTrisha Vetaw DFL
Leslie DavisWe the People
5 Jeremiah Ellison DFL2017 Jeremiah Ellison DFL
Suleiman IsseDFL
Victor MartinezDFL
Elijah Norris-HollidayIndependent
Kristel PorterDFL
James SeymorWitness
Cathy SpannDFL
6 Jamal Osman DFL2020Abdirizak BihiDFL
Jamal Osman DFL
7 Lisa Goodman DFL1997 Lisa Goodman DFLMinneapolis DFL
Nick KorDFL
Teqen Zéa-AidaDFL
Joanna DiazDFL
8 Andrea Jenkins DFL2017 Andrea Jenkins DFLMinneapolis DFL
Robert SullentropRepublican
9 Alondra Cano DFL 2013 Jason Chavez DFLMinneapolis DFL
Twin Cities DSA [7]
Jon Randall DenisonSocial Justice
Alfred "AJ" Flowers, JrDFL
Yussuf HajiDFL
Carmen MeansDFL
Mickey MooreDFL
Brenda ShortDFL
Ross TennesonRepublican
10 Lisa Bender DFL 2013 Aisha Chughtai DFLTwin Cities DSA [7]
Katie Jones DFL
Alicia GibsonDFL
Ubah NurDFL
Chris ParsonsDFL
David WheelerDFL
11Jeremy SchroederDFL2017 Emily Koski DFL
Jeremy SchroederDFL
Kurt Michael AndersonIndependent
Dillon GhernaDFL
Albert T. RossDFL
12 Andrew Johnson DFL 2013 Andrew Johnson DFLMinneapolis DFL
Nancy FordIndependent
David RosenfeldSocialist Workers
13 Linea Palmisano DFL 2013 Linea Palmisano DFLMinneapolis DFL
Mike NortonDFL
Kati MedfordGreen
Bob ReuerIndependent
Ken SalwayRepublican

Electoral system

The 13 members of the City Council are elected from single-member districts via instant-runoff voting, commonly known as ranked choice voting. Voters have the option of ranking up to three candidates in order of preference. Municipal elections in Minnesota are officially nonpartisan, although candidates are able to identify with a political party on the ballot. Write-in candidates must file a request with the Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services Division for votes for them to be counted.

Results

Vote share by first-party preference
  1. DFL (85.95%)
  2. GOP (2.71%)
  3. Green (2.28%)
  4. DSA (2.06%)
  5. Socialist Workers (0.58%)
  6. Other parties (1.3%)
  7. Independent (5.02%)
  8. Write-in (0.36%)

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Running for office". vote.minneapolismn.gov. City of Minneapolis. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
  2. ↑ Rio, Giulia McDonnell Nieto del; Eligon, John; Hassan, Adeel (May 25, 2021). "A Timeline of What Has Happened in the Year Since George Floyd's Death". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  3. ↑ Halter, Nick (November 4, 2021). "Minneapolis City Council leans slightly moderate after 2021 election". Axios. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  4. ↑ Gustavo, Solomon (November 4, 2021). "The final tally: five Minneapolis Council incumbents unseated in 2021 city election". MinnPost. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  5. ↑ Read, Katy (December 19, 2020). "Minneapolis City Council Member Alondra Cano won't seek re-election". Star Tribune.
  6. ↑ Navratil, Liz; Walsh, Paul (November 9, 2020). "Minneapolis Council President Lisa Bender won't seek re-election". Star Tribune.
  7. 1 2 3 "2021 Endorsements". Twin Cities DSA . Democratic Socialists of America. August 10, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  8. ↑ Minneapolis, City of (November 2, 2021). "2021 City Council Ward 1 election results". City of Minneapolis. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
  9. ↑ Graham-Squire, Adam; McCune, David (March 6, 2023). "An Examination of Ranked Choice Voting in the United States, 2004-2022". p. 10. arXiv: 2301.12075 [econ.GN]. 2021 Ward 2 City Council Election in Minneapolis, MN … This election cannot demonstrate a Condorcet failure as we have defined it because there is no Condorcet winner. All other elections in the database contain a Condorcet winner.
  10. ↑ McCune, David; McCune, Lori (December 26, 2021). "The Curious Case of the 2021 Minneapolis Ward 2 City Council Election". arXiv: 2111.09846 [econ.GN]. Arab wins a head-to-head matchup against Gordon 4324 to 4098, Gordon wins a matchup against [Wonsley] Worlobah 3708 to 3635, and Worlobah wins a matchup against Arab 4056 to 4037.
  11. ↑ Bradley Fox, N.; Bruyns, Benjamin (2024). "An Evaluation of Borda Count Variations Using Ranked Choice Voting Data". arXiv: 2501.00618 [econ.GN].
  12. ↑ Minneapolis, City of (March 13, 2024). "2021 City Council Ward 2 election results". City of Minneapolis. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
  13. ↑ Minneapolis, City of (November 2, 2021). "2021 City Council Ward 2 election results". City of Minneapolis. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
  14. ↑ Minneapolis, City of (November 2, 2021). "2021 City Council Ward 3 election results". City of Minneapolis. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  15. ↑ Minneapolis, City of (November 2, 2021). "2021 City Council Ward 4 election results". City of Minneapolis. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  16. ↑ Minneapolis, City of (November 2, 2021). "2021 City Council Ward 5 election results". City of Minneapolis. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  17. ↑ Minneapolis, City of (November 2, 2021). "2021 City Council Ward 6 election results". City of Minneapolis. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  18. ↑ Minneapolis, City of (November 2, 2021). "2021 City Council Ward 7 election results". City of Minneapolis. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  19. ↑ Minneapolis, City of (November 2, 2021). "2021 City Council Ward 8 election results". City of Minneapolis. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  20. ↑ Minneapolis, City of (November 2, 2021). "2021 City Council Ward 9 election results". City of Minneapolis. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  21. ↑ Minneapolis, City of (November 2, 2021). "2021 City Council Ward 10 election results". City of Minneapolis. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  22. ↑ Minneapolis, City of (November 2, 2021). "2021 City Council Ward 11 election results". City of Minneapolis. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  23. ↑ Minneapolis, City of (November 2, 2021). "2021 City Council Ward 12 election results". City of Minneapolis. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  24. ↑ Minneapolis, City of (November 2, 2021). "2021 City Council Ward 13 election results". City of Minneapolis. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
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