Minnesota Report
Focus: Municipal Elections
Friday’s Minneapolis Mayoral Debate on Almanac, was clearly more of a discussion, and a situation where the three other candidates in the race Sheila Nezhad (DFL-Minneapolis), Kate Knuth (DFL-Minneapolis), and AJ Awed (DFL-Minneapolis) all tried to get a glove on incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey (DFL-Minneapolis), and failed. These four were chosen to be on the program and seen as the candidates with the most popular support from the field of 17. Frey used debating points calling for specifics on the attacks from his critics, and successfully labeled Knuth and a Flip Flopper, with assistance from Awed.
During the discussion, we learned Nezhad and Knute are asking their supporters to vote for the other as their second-choice, which is nothing short of collusion.
In politics, it’s impossible to beat somebody with nobody, and in this case, because of the Ranked Choice Voting system, the diffusion of the voices fails to allow people to identify a clear contender to Frey. A poll released yesterday by the Democratic Polling firm ALG, with offices in DC, AL, IL, MA and NY, show Frey with a double-digit lead over the field with 44%, followed by Nezhad 25%, Knute 10% and Awed 3%. After the redistribution of votes in two simulated rounds, both Frey s and Nezhad gains only 2%, with 12% Exhausted and 13% Undecided.
With only a week before Election Day, and early voting underway, it will be interesting to see if anything shakes up this contest, because nothing during the Almanac performance did.