Socialist candidate for mayor makes waves in the City of Lakes

The comparisons between Omar Fateh and Zohran Mamdani are easy to draw.

Mamdani, the 33-year-old Ugandan-born state assemblyman from New York City, stunned the nation’s political world a month ago by coming from behind to convincingly win the Democratic Party mayoral nomination in the nation’s most populous city.

And with his victory over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and nine other candidates, Mamdani took a big step toward becoming New York City’s first Muslim and first millennial mayor.

Fateh, like Mamdani, is a democratic socialist and a Muslim. And at age 35, he’s also a member of Generation Y.

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And similar to Mamdani, he topped an establishment Democrat to earn a crucial endorsement as he bids for Minneapolis mayor.

“From NYC to Minneapolis — change is coming!” the Twin Cities chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America touted a week and a half ago after Fateh landed the endorsement of the Minneapolis chapter of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which is the name of the Democratic Party in Minnesota.

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Fateh landed the endorsement over incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey, who is running for a third term. But Frey, who has repeatedly faced off during his tenure with a left-leaning city council in the heavily blue city, remains on the ballot, and will face off with Fateh in November’s election.

And similar to New York City, Minneapolis will use ranked choice voting to determine its next mayor.

“This endorsement is a message that Minneapolis residents are done with broken promises, vetoes, and politics as usual. It’s a mandate to build a city that works for all of us,” Fateh said, in a jab at Frey.

But Frey highlighted that “this election should be decided by our entire city, not by a handful of delegates. I look forward to a full debate with Sen. Fateh about our records and visions for our Minneapolis’s future. Onward to November!”

Fateh, similar to Mamdani, is offering voters what can be characterized as a far-left agenda. 

In New York City, Mamdani is pushing proposals to eliminate fares to ride New York City’s vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) “tuition-free,” freezing rents on municipal housing, offering “free childcare” for children up to age 5 and setting up government-run grocery stores.

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Fateh, the son of immigrant parents from Somalia who five years ago became the first Somali-American elected to the Minnesota Senate, pledges if elected mayor to raise the city’s minimum wage, increase the supply of affordable housing, and combat what he calls police violence. Similar to Mamdani, Fateh calls for replacing some of the police department’s duties with community-led alternatives. He also wants to issue legal IDs to undocumented immigrants.

Larry Jacobs, a public affairs professor at the University of Minnesota, pointed to the numerous parallels between Mamdani and Fateh.

But he noted that “the big difference is in Minneapolis you have a two-term mayor who’s probably still the favorite to win.”

Jacobs highlighted that the Democratic Party is going through “post election blues.” He pointed to a “genuine division on the direction of the party and that division in part is between a younger socialist element… and a more moderate version of the party that has relations with business and pulls back on change that’s disruptive.”

Republicans have been relentless in taking aim at Mamdani and his far-left proposals. They are repeatedly trying to make him the face of the Democratic Party while also attempting to anchor him to vulnerable Democrats up for re-election in next year’s midterms.

While not grabbing the kind of media frenzy that surrounds Mamdani, Republicans and conservatives have started targeting Fateh.

Among them is Charlie Kirk—the conservative host and MAGA-world rockstar who leads the influential Turning Point USA political youth organization. Kirk recently took aim at Fateh over his Muslim identity.