Elections and campaigns
In 2015, Fateh ran for an at-large seat on the Fairfax County School Board in northern Virginia. [6] [7] [8] He sought the endorsement of the county Democratic Party, but it endorsed the three incumbents running for the three at-large seats. [9] In an officially nonpartisan race, Fateh ran in the general election, along with the three Democratic-endorsed incumbents, [10] three Republican-endorsed challengers, [11] and two others. Fateh placed eighth, and one of the Democratic-endorsed incumbents lost to one of the Republican-endorsed challengers. [12] Soon after that, he moved to Minneapolis and held a nonpartisan job with the city in voter outreach before working for the state of Minnesota. [6]
In 2018, Fateh ran for District 62A of the Minnesota House of Representatives, losing in the DFL primary to Hodan Hassan. [13]
Minnesota Senate
In 2020, Fateh announced a primary challenge to incumbent Senator Jeff Hayden. A self-declared democratic socialist, he received support from groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America and the Sunrise Movement. [14] He also received the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party's endorsement. [15] Fateh defeated Hayden in the August primary, 54% to 45%, [16] and was elected to the Minnesota Senate with 89% of the vote in the general election. [17] Fateh's 2020 campaign office was located in the Open Arms adult day care center in Minneapolis, provided free of charge. [18] In December 2022, the Minnesota Department of Human Services suspended the center's license due to violations including rodent infestation and facility disrepair. [19]
Fateh was sworn into the Minnesota legislature on January 5, 2021. During his first term, the Senate was under Republican control and the DFL controlled the House and governor's office. [20] Fateh authored 54 bills during the 2021–22 session. [21]
Fateh authored a bill passed during the 2021–22 session that exempted fentanyl test strips from being considered drug paraphernalia. [21] In January 2023, the Star Tribune reported that since legalization, community organizations and nonprofits had given away more than 100,000 strips, and cited evidence from surveys demonstrating that the strips changed user behavior, noting that 89% of users "took overdose-prevention measures once they discovered fentanyl". [22]
In 2022, Fateh defeated a challenger in the August 9 DFL primary, winning every precinct. [23] He defeated Republican nominee Andrew Schmitz in the November general election with over 90% of the vote. [24] In 2022, Democrats won a "trifecta", taking control of the Senate, House, and governor's office. [25] Fateh was appointed chair of the Senate Higher Education committee and vice chair of the Senate Human Services Committee. [26]
In the 2023 legislative session, Fateh was the chief author of a bill to provide minimum wages and worker protections for drivers for rideshare companies such as Uber and Lyft. The Minnesota Uber and Lyft Drivers Association (MULDA) supported the bill. It had bipartisan support and passed the House and Senate, but was vetoed by Governor Tim Walz. [27] Fateh worked on a revised form of the legislation for the 2024 session, which passed with Walz's support. The minimum wage went into effect in late 2024. [28]
As Senate Higher Education Committee Chair, Fateh initiated a successful bill that included tuition-free public colleges and universities and tribal colleges for students from families making less than $80,000 a year. [29] It also included an increase to Hunger Free Campus grants. [30]
Ethics investigations
In 2022, Fateh returned $11,000 in campaign donations linked to the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which was federally investigated for a $250 million fraud scheme. Fateh had previously defended the organization, accusing state agencies of targeting immigrant-owned businesses, then reversed his stance after federal raids began. He later expressed frustration that "providers were lying" to him. [31] [32] Fateh was later criticized for having supported Feeding Our Future in 2021, before FBI raids uncovered their fraud. [33]
Also in 2022, Fateh faced a State Senate ethics investigation for failing to disclose $1,000 his campaign paid for advertisements to Somali TV Minnesota, a YouTube channel. A second complaint was related to the perjury conviction of Muse Mohamed, Fateh's brother-in-law and a volunteer on his 2020 campaign; a federal jury convicted Muse in May of lying to a federal grand jury about his handling of three absentee ballots for Fateh's campaign. [34] The ethics committee unanimously dismissed both complaints against Fateh, finding that the undisclosed advertising expense was outside the ethics committee's scope and referring it to the campaign finance board. [35] Fateh was also ordered to attend campaign finance training. [34]
2025 mayoral campaign
On November 20, 2024, Fateh declared his candidacy for mayor of Minneapolis in the 2025 election. [36] On July 19, 2025, the Minneapolis DFL endorsed Fateh over incumbent mayor Jacob Frey. [37] The Minnesota DFL revoked the endorsement on August 21, 2025 after Frey appealed, citing a poorly secured registration spreadsheet and technical difficulties. [38] The Minneapolis DFL appealed the ruling, but the state party denied its appeal. [39] In October 2025, Fateh's campaign was fined for distributing yard signs at an August 23 event that cited the DFL endorsement after it was revoked, a campaign finance violation. [40] [41]
During his campaign, Fateh claimed that he was targeted by Islamophobic language. [42] On July 14, 2025, conservative online commentator Charlie Kirk tweeted that Fateh was a part of an Islamic takeover of the United States. [2] [43] Local politicians, including his opponents in the mayoral election, responded in Fateh's defense. [44] On August 25, Fateh's campaign office was vandalized with Islamophobic graffiti reading, "Somali Muslim — This warning is no joke". [45]
Fateh lost to Frey in the November 4 general election. After tabulating instant-runoff results, Fateh received 47.0% of the vote to Frey's 53.0%. [46] [47]
