Voters will head to the polls Tuesday to choose who they want to lead the Twin Cities for the next four years while races in Wright County and Woodbury will determine control of the Minnesota Senate.
Polling places in Minnesota are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters can find their polling location here and see what’s on their ballot here.
Minneapolis mayoral, city council elections
The race for Minneapolis mayor is expected to come down to incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey, who is in his second term, and Omar Fateh, a current state senator. Although both are decidedly left-wing, Frey is viewed as a more mainstream Democrat who has the support of figures like Gov. Tim Walz and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, while Fateh is a self-described democratic socialist backed by U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar.
In a shocking move, the Minnesota DFL Party vacated the Minneapolis DFL’s endorsement of Fateh for mayor in August after a review found that the endorsing convention’s electronic voting system was “substantially flawed” and “produced a highly inaccurate tabulation of the first vote.”
Minneapolis uses a ranked-choice voting system, meaning voters likely will not know the winner of the race on Election Day. A Fateh-aligned PAC is encouraging voters to rank Fateh along with candidates DeWayne Davis and Jazz Hampton.
Additionally, every seat on the Minneapolis City Council is up for grabs. One of the main storylines to watch will be whether candidates endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America win their races.
Special Senate elections
Control of the closely-divided Minnesota Senate is also up for grabs on Tuesday.
In Senate District 29, which includes much of Wright County and parts of Hennepin and Meeker counties, Republican Michael Holmstrom will face off against Democrat Louis McNutt.
Holmstrom was one of several candidates who ran for the Republican endorsement after the unexpected death of longtime GOP legislator Bruce Anderson in July. Anderson won the district in 2022 by 36 points.
In Senate District 47, Republican Dwight Dorau is seeking to pull off an upset over Democrat Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger, a current state representative. The district includes the city of Woodbury in Washington county and the southern part of the city of Maplewood in Ramsey county.
The seat was vacated in July following the resignation of former Sen. Nicole Mitchell, a Democrat who was found guilty of felony burglary. Mitchell defeated Dorau by 17 points in 2022.
Democrats currently hold a 33-32 advantage in the state Senate while the state House is evenly divided.
St. Paul mayoral election
Democrat Melvin Carter is running for a third term leading Minnesota’s capital city. Carter was expected to cruise to victory until the late entrance into the race of Kaohly Her.
Her, also a Democrat, is serving in her fourth term as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives and previously worked as a policy director in Carter’s mayoral office.
Just a few months ago, Her gained national attention after telling her fellow lawmakers, “I am illegal in this country. My parents are illegal here in this country.”
“My family broke the law to come here,” said Vang Her. The DFL lawmaker later shared a statement with KSTP in which she said that she is a citizen and her family came here legally.
The race for mayor features four candidates: Her, Carter, Yan Chen, and Michael Hilborn. Like Minneapolis, St. Paul uses ranked-choice voting. Its city council seats are up for reelection in 2028.
Local school board races
Residents in 36 school districts across the state will elect new members to their school boards, including three seats that are up for grabs in Minnesota’s largest district of Anoka-Hennepin.
In recent years, local school board races have turned into a battle between the teachers union and a political upstart known as the Minnesota Parents Alliance.
Candidates whose names will appear on ballots can be found here. A list of candidates supported by Education Minnesota, the state’s teachers union, can be viewed here; candidates backed by the Minnesota Parents Alliance can be found here.
Luke Sprinkel contributed to this report.
A previous version of this story misstated when St. Paul’s City Council seats are up for reelection. The story has been corrected.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
