Following New York City’s major Mayoral upset with Muslim Socialist Zohran Mamdani defeating scandal-ridden, nursing home killer Andrew Cuomo, many have looked to Minneapolis to see if the Mamdani recipe can be repeated. In the case of Minneapolis, another Muslim Socialist, state senator Omar Fateh (SD62), can speed up the Democrat Party’s leftward march toward Communism.

Similar to Omar Fateh, NYC’s Zohran Mamdani is a DSA 'Democratic Socialist' state legislator with little name ID when he entered the mayoral race and polled as low as 1% in the beginning before his eventual primary victory. Many fear that the same fate could happen to Minneapolis since a template has been successfully applied electorally. 

Omar Fateh was born in Washington D.C. to parents from Somalia. Fateh ran for a school board position in Fairfax County, Virginia in 2015. He later moved to Minneapolis and lost a bid for the state house in 2018 before defeating incumbent Democrat Senator Jeff Hayden in a primary in 2020. Fateh’s brother-in-law and “campaign volunteer”, Muse Mohamud Mohamed, was also convicted of lying to a federal jury in 2022 about turning in fraudulent ballots for voters that did not know Mohamed or ask him to turn in their ballot. When Fateh was taken to the Senate Ethics Committee on this issue and an alleged quid-pro-quo for free Somali TV advertising, his campaign manager Dawson Kimyon invoked the 5th Amendment on most questions after refusing to testify without a formal subpoena despite previous willingness. In the end RINOs Dave Osmek and Mary Kiffmeyer on the committee sided with Democrats and only subjected Fateh to campaign finance training. Fateh also had deep connections with the largest fraud uncovered ever in Minnesota, Feeding our Future.

In the state senate, Fateh has led an incoherent, sloppy, and divisive career. One example of the divisive nonsense Fateh pushes was him saying on the Senate floor during the debate to legalize driver’s licenses for illegals (that don’t say they’re illegal on the ID) that Republican senators like Nathan Wesenberg (SD10) and others in the front row look like “ethnically violent extremists”. Wesenberg rose and spoke against the insane comments by Fateh and instead encouraged members to treat people equally and with respect. Fateh's gut instinct to attack white people may be difficult to grapple with considering Minneapolis' population is almost 60% white.

On any given issue, Omar Fateh will spout whatever the furthest left possible position he can take. If Fateh were to become Mayor of Minneapolis; The city would become a sanctuary for illegal aliens/city would not cooperate with I.C.E. deportations, drug-addicted homeless will infect the streets, he would defund the police (as he endorsed in 2021), and would crush the city’s economy by scaring off big businesses. Omar claims that almost half of the 911 calls do not need police officers, he is going to send unarmed counselors to deal with deranged criminals instead! Another specific policy position Fateh is pushing is to close down the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC) when Hennepin County has zero landfills and HERC produces energy by burning the garbage. Simultaneously, Fateh offers no solution on what Minneapolis can instead do with the 365,000 tons of garbage that HERC has turns into electricity each year. A4L have previously reported on climate cultists like Fateh fighting illogically against HERC since HERC is environmentally preferable to landfills for air pollutants.

On one hand, Fateh is a far-left Socialist catering to Somali refugees but on the other, Fateh is an empty vessel who votes how he’s told by party leadership and simply plays identity politics. While proclaiming himself a leader for Uber and Lyft drivers, both companies planned to flee Minnesota if Fateh’s Socialist wage regulation bill became law. When Fateh was given the opportunity to develop a bill on the topic with Uber and Lyft, he never showed up to a single meeting. The bill was ultimately vetoed, meaning he failed to deliver what he promised to the Somali constituency who raised them on their shoulders when the bill passed the legislature and before it was vetoed. Sources at the Capitol tell A4L that Fateh built some bad-will within the Democrat caucus with that bill, including with corrupt Senate President Bobby Joe Champion (SD59). However, Fateh has always fallen in line and sided with Democrats on critical issues so while he is an extreme Socialist, he is also an opportunistic empty leader. Sources at the Capitol also tell A4L that Fateh is incredibly lazy.

Omar Fateh swearing into the state senate with a cartoonishly large Quran

As we all see the Democrat Party moving to the left, one has to wonder how possible it is that Fateh wins against incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey. No credible polling has been completed yet so it may be too early to say. However, unlike the NYC Mamdani win, this election features an incumbent who is generally liked by the left and survived reelection in 2021 post-George Floyd. Also unlike the NYC race is the work ethic and on-the-ground presence displayed by Mamdani’s campaign. While Fateh is desperate to replicate Mamdani with Tiktok and other social media, this race will not get nearly the same attention as NYC and where Fateh has gotten attention has largely been delegitimizing. Mamdani was blessed to have his main opponent be a corrupt politician who had to resign from office in disgrace, Fateh is not so lucky. Fateh has also run a lazy campaign up to this point and has no-showed events that other candidates attended.

There will be less room for Fateh to separate and distinguish himself from Frey than there was for Mamdani to separate himself from Cuomo. Jacob Frey has capitulated to Black Lives Matter supporters and just about any identity group you can think of. Fateh may use the Israel/Palestine issue to create some distance between himself and Frey but foreign politics often do not have serious effects on municipal elections. While changing demographics and rising discontent exists in the Democrat base in Minneapolis, it seems unlikely that Fateh will be able to capitalize and defeat fellow left wing lunatic Jacob Frey which raises the question of why he is running. Since this is an off year election, Fateh will still be in the state senate if he fails making the Mayor election low-stakes. While Fateh may rather be a mayor instead of a state senator, he could be running to increase his name ID to potentially replace Ilhan Omar in Congress once she decides to stop running.

What may paint a clearer picture is the Minneapolis Democrat’s endorsing convention taking place this Saturday (July 19th). Along with Fateh and Frey, three other candidates will compete for the party endorsement: woke Reverend DeWayne Davis, app developer Jazz Hampton, and financial clearance representative Brenda Short. According to the endorsing convention rules and agenda, there will be four prayer breaks during the convention (presumably for Muslims). The convention will also endorse candidates for the board of estimates and taxation and a park board.

Omar Fateh currently has the endorsement of 13 current and former legislators according to his website, however unlike NYC’s Mamdani, he lacks endorsements from individuals with very big name recognition. Mamdani had AOC, ‘fire alarm’ Jamaal Bowman, Bernie Sanders, UAW President Shawn Fain, and a long list of other politicians and celebrities endorsing him before the primary. Notably, Omar Fateh does not even have Ilhan Omar’s endorsement (despite his recent endorsement of her in 2024) but does list swing district state senator, ultra-liberal Senator Aric Putnam (SD14) on his website, see below:

In addition to the already mentioned candidates there are three other individuals running for Minneapolis Mayor. This includes healthcare chaplain Howard Dotson (who’s Facebook cover photo is a picture of himself and Tim Walz), the 2022 Socialist Workers Party Lt. Gov. nominee Kevin Dwire, and public relations/marketing consultant Laverne Turner who has previously run for office as a Republican but his Facebook page calls himself an "Independent".

Minneapolis has rank-choice voting which allows voters to select their top three choices and rank them accordingly. Once a candidate receives over 50% of the vote, they will be declared the winner.

Action 4 Liberty will continue to keep Patriots informed as this race develops.