Lessons from the Twin Cities
From August to November 2021, I worked as a canvasser for a political action committee called All of Minneapolis. My job was to go door-to-door to get information on how Minneapolis voters planned to vote on ballot questions 1 and 2. In addition, I asked voters how they planned to vote in the mayor’s race and their city council race. If possible, I also attempted to persuade voters.
The main opponent to All of Minneapolis in this race was Yes for Minneapolis. Its primary objective was to get Minneapolis residents to vote yes on ballot question 2. There was quite a bit of overlap between Yes for Minneapolis, people who wanted Minneapolis residents to vote no on question 1, and people from the left who wanted Mayor Frey out of office.
By contrast, All of Minneapolis had the objectives of getting people to vote yes on ballot question 1, vote no on ballot question 2, and get Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey reelected. In addition, we were also looking to get certain people elected and reelected to the Minneapolis City Council.
The outcome was that we did far better than I expected. With the exception of two city council races, we accomplished all of our goals for the Minneapolis 2021 municipal election.
An Explanation of the Questions
During the 2021 Minneapolis municipal elections, three questions were on the ballot.
All of Minneapolis was concerned with ballot questions 1 and 2; no position was taken on question 3.
Ballot question 1 concerned what type of structure the Minneapolis city government would have: a weak mayor system or a strong mayor system. To make a long explanation short, a weak mayor system means the mayor has quite a weak role in running the city government, while a strong mayor system has a city government that operates more like the US government: the council holds power of the purse and legislative authority, while the mayor runs the city government on a day-to-day basis. A yes vote would have changed Minneapolis into a strong mayor city, while a no vote would have maintained the status quo of a weak mayor city.
Ballot question 2 was by far the most contentious. It was the question of what to do about the Minneapolis Police Department. To wildly oversimplify, a yes vote would disband the Minneapolis Police Department and replace it with a Department of Public Safety, and a no vote would keep the MPD around.
To recap, All of Minneapolis favored voting yes on ballot question 1 (changing Minneapolis into a strong mayor city) and no on ballot question 2 (not disbanding the MPD).
In case you were wondering, ballot question 3 was about the ability of the Minneapolis City Council to propose and pass rent control.
Context
A critical piece of information to know about Minneapolis is that, like many northern cities today, it is extremely segregated by race and income. When you look at how a ward of the city voted, you can tell how a specific income or racial group voted.
The election occurred in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder just over a year before, Derek Chauvin’s trial, and his subsequent sentencing to 22.5 years behind bars. The unrest right after George Floyd’s murder left behind scars, both physical and mental, in the Twin Cities. However, because Minneapolis was ground zero, it was hit the hardest of all.
It is also important to note that many members of the MPD took this mess as their cue to quit or retire. As a result, the department was only at two-thirds strength during the election. Violent crime, especially carjackings and murders, skyrocketed.
Because of how badly the entirety of the Minneapolis city government handled the situation right after George Floyd’s murder, residents all over the city were in a prime mood to replace current candidates.
The question at the time would be who would experience the brunt of the public’s anger the most, Mayor Frey or the Minneapolis City Council.
The reasonable expectation was that Mayor Frey was too badly damaged to win reelection from either end. He was never popular in certain segments of Minneapolis, and some of his decisions before George Floyd’s murder, such as rewriting zoning laws, cost him significant amounts of political capital he could ill afford to lose. In addition, George Floyd’s murder and the MPD’s conduct in the aftermath only inflamed the sections of Minneapolis that already hated him. I even asked several times why we were bothering to help him at all.
However, the Minneapolis City Council was in just as much hot water. Right after George Floyd’s murder in Powderhorn Park, much of the city council announced that they would dismantle the MPD. The council admitted that they did not have a plan but that they would form one by listening to the community. When crime rates began to skyrocket, especially during the summer of 2021, the council’s lack of planning became even more egregious. Thanks to the actions of some of the city council members, in particular some of its leaders, many residents all over Minneapolis felt outright insulted and ignored, inflaming tempers even further.
So Minneapolis had (and still does in regard to the MPD) a police department with a crisis of confidence, rising crime, and broken trust in the city government—all with a pandemic in the background.
Outcome
As stated above, the goals of All of Minneapolis, with the exception of the Ward 10 and 1 races, were achieved. Mayor Frey was reelected, question 1 passed, and question 2 failed. If anyone is wondering about question 3, it, too, passed. As for the city council race where All of Minneapolis endorsed a candidate, only two races were lost. Those were Wards 1 and 10.
Across the river, Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter III was easily reelected. Uriah Ward, Jim Vue, and Halla Henderson got elected to the Saint Paul School Board. A referendum on rent control ended with voters by a close margin saying yes.
In case anyone would like to see the breakdown of the ballot questions in Minneapolis, click here. For Saint Paul and rent control margins, click here.
What I Noticed as a Canvasser
I worked all over Minneapolis as a canvasser for All of Minneapolis, but especially in South and Southwest Minneapolis, some of the whitest and wealthiest corners of Minneapolis.
Our agenda, to no one’s surprise, was quite popular in Southwest Minneapolis. In fact, I got thanked by some of their residents for my service as though I were part of the US military. The way Ward 13, Southwest Minneapolis, voted reflects this fact. Same for Ward 11 and much of Ward 12.
What surprised me was that very few Black voters I talked to, even in Ward 8 where George Floyd was murdered, thought that voting yes on question 2 (disbanding the MPD) was a good idea. In fact, on my first day out canvassing, I knocked on the door of an older Black man who matter-of-factly told me that he was not interested in abolishing the MPD.
Before I started canvassing, I dreaded having conversations with Black voters as a “White Male Canvasser” with All of Minneapolis; I was attempting to think of how to get this group that likely has been brutalized by the MPD to vote against disbanding it. What I failed to realize going in was that for Black residents, crime was just as much a concern as police brutality, if not more so in certain cases. The violent summer was hitting Black neighborhoods the hardest and disproportionately killing Black people.
Another thing that surprised me was just how similar the complaints were regardless of what part of Minneapolis I was working in. Everywhere—regardless if I were in Southwest Minneapolis or the Northside—I heard concerns about public safety, dysfunctional city government, and mistrust of the MPD. With a few disturbing exceptions, everyone I talked to regarded the events on 38th and Chicago as murder and felt that the MPD has a serious problem with how it treats Black people.
When it came to other voters of color, such as Latino and Asian American voters, I got responses a little all over the place. If I were on the Northside, everyone I talked with (aside from a few exceptions) said they were afraid to go outside and that they were hyper concerned about public safety. One woman told me about a time in which another woman and her kids were caught in the middle of a gunfight. Fortunately, neither she nor the kids were hurt, but the Ward 5 Minneapolis City Council member, Jeremiah Ellison, afterward lectured the community about supporting renters.
And I thought I was bad at reading the room.
When I was in Ward 8 (the same ward where George Floyd was murdered), I got responses from these voters that indicated that they would support disbanding the MPD. I suspect this is because the MPD’s actions left quite a bad taste in their mouths in the aftermath, and even by MPD standards, the officers who worked in the area were quite bad beforehand.
The people most hostile to me as a canvasser with All of Minneapolis were White hipsters—for the lack of a better label—especially in Wards 1 and 2, North and Southeast Minneapolis, respectively. A few of them directly accused me of being pro murdering Black people.
This was amplified around the University of Minnesota campus.
The other group that was quite hostile (if I could contact them at all) toward me were residents of Ward 8. I noticed a series of signs in one neighborhood that basically said to rely on neighbors for public safety, not the police. Even so, most of the residents who disagreed with what I was doing cooperated with my questions and answered honestly.
I did encounter an outright dangerous situation. A White man in an unmarked vehicle approached me while I was working in Ward 1 to ask me who was funding my work and, I suspect, to intimidate me. The way he was questioning me, it seemed as though he regarded me as an invader. I know for a fact this man helped burn down Lake Street in some capacity and is a terrorist I would be happy to see the MPD deal with. He gave off the impression of a man-child cosplaying as a revolutionary. Fortunately, nothing happened, but it screwed up my nerves for the rest of the day.
I was quite disturbed at the number of dog whistles I heard while door knocking. A few people told me that they thought George Floyd’s murder was either an accident or it was justified. I remember one older White man telling me Daunte Wright brought his killing on himself. In addition, one older White respondent told me matter-of-factly that he would never vote for a Black person for public office. I remember feeling quite irritated when a middle-aged White man in Ward 11 began to fake cry when discussing George Floyd’s murder.
However, I saw other types of racism and dog whistling. People told me that they hated developers and, as a result, did not want any new buildings in their precious neighborhoods in order to maintain “character.” White residents in favor of question 2—disbanding the MPD—acted dismissive of the concerns of Black residents or even these residents’ concerns about crime. Someone even had the gall to make a comment to a Somali coworker of mine that “it will get worse before it gets better” regarding violence when said coworker asked what his community was supposed to do about violent crime affecting them.
Moreover, I noticed a pattern of the White respondents who were in favor of saying yes to question 2 and were hyper dedicated to seeing the question pass—for two flawed reasons. You can decide which is more troubling.
Many of these White respondents thought that they were signaling how good of people they were by saying yes to question 2, never mind bothering to think about the consequences.
Also, many of the White respondents I talked with in favor of question 2 seemed to think that just voting yes would be enough to wipe away the murder of George Floyd and the tumor of systemic racism Black residents face on a daily basis.
Occasionally, I did run into people who were voting yes on question 2 because of how they were treated by the MPD. This was most common with folks, both White and people of color, who attended protests or were otherwise harmed by the MPD in some capacity before George Floyd’s murder.
Why All of Minneapolis “Won”
We were directly out-raised and outworked by our opponents. I know this because I pulled a disproportionate amount of the weight as a canvasser. In fact, I was told I was at times doing the work of several canvassers. Keep in mind that I often only did five hours a day, one hundred doors a day, and with a 20 percent contact rate, six days a week.
The MPD was (and still is) immensely distrusted across Minneapolis. Almost everyone I talked with was genuinely horrified by the murder of George Floyd and disgusted by how the MPD responded in the aftermath. Even in Southwest Minneapolis, quite a few respondents agreed that the MPD has a major problem with institutionalized racism in its ranks and operations.
Mayor Frey was getting at best frosty reception and was quite often disliked across South Minneapolis for what many perceived as his poor response to the unrest after George Floyd’s murder. He was hated in much of North and Southeast Minneapolis, in addition to much of Ward 8. When people voiced opposition to transitioning to a strong mayor system, their dislike of Mayor Frey was the most cited reason.
Most of all, Yes for Minneapolis had quite committed people.
All of Minneapolis did not necessarily “win.” It was more like Yes for Minneapolis and its allies lost.
The Yes for Minneapolis campaign was never going to win Wards 11–13, but I think it could have won the wards that helped question 3 (regarding rent control) prevail that it ended up losing, mainly Wards 4, 5, and 6. The campaign would have had to develop a plan that convinced the largely African American community in Wards 4 and 5 and the highly diverse Ward 6 (home to a large number of East African immigrants) that their safety would be taken care of. At this task, Yes for Minneapolis clearly failed.
In addition, the way Yes for Minneapolis talked with the general public about their concerns hurt them a great deal. From what I learned talking with residents of all backgrounds and areas, they were frequently ignored or belittled when they raised concerns about crime (especially violent crime), with one canvasser allegedly saying that calling the police if someone breaks into your house is an exercise in White privilege.
Now, if this person meant by their alleged comment that a White victim of burglary would receive better service from the MPD than would a Black victim of burglary, I would have agreed. However, it was hinted to me that what was implied was that calling the police at all for help was unacceptable, even when intervention was warranted.
This was especially egregious when dealing with communities that experienced a very violent summer firsthand.
I will come back to this later.
All of Minneapolis’s Mistakes
That being said, All of Minneapolis made mistakes of its own.
The biggest was that it relied way too much on South and Southwest Minneapolis. This is a setback because now the problem can be framed as only rich White residents (which is what South and Southwest Minneapolis is) voting against question 2, when the reality is quite different. If All of Minneapolis relied more on voters of color who wanted both crime and police brutality addressed, this debate could have been put to bed for good. Instead, thanks to the fact that quite a few communities of color voted in favor of question 2 in Wards 8 and 9, this question will likely come up again.
Moreover, the outreach to various communities of color that could have been effective allies was atrocious. While All of Minneapolis did invest time in Northside outreach, it was not nearly enough. Moreover, I did not notice very much outreach to the East African, Latino, Hmong, or Karen communities, people who would have made fantastic allies in shutting down Defund the Police for good, not to mention it would have made my job as a canvasser much easier. Although this made sense from a strictly vote-counting standpoint, it failed to address the issue in a significant and sufficient manner. Worst of all, this failure to do the necessary outreach to communities of color caused question 1 to be much closer than it needed to be.
The biggest mistake was that All of Minneapolis did not put forward a plan of its own to rein in the MPD. People at the door were right: something has to be done about the MPD’s misconduct and the way it treats people of color. Many people told me they were voting yes just to send a message to do something. That way, All of Minneapolis would have been able to counter the claim from Yes for Minneapolis and its allies that it did not care about police misconduct.
Frankly, the biggest reason All of Minneapolis won was because Yes for Minneapolis made a plethora of bad decisions that countered any mistakes All of Minneapolis made.
My Own Mistakes
That is not to say that my own decision-making was perfect either.
For starters, I failed to see why we were spending so much time in Ward 1 trying to save then Ward 1 Minneapolis City Council Member Kevin Reich. Everyone and their brother could see that he was a dead man walking when it came to his chances of getting reelected. Elliott Payne (his main opponent, who would win but by a much closer margin than I thought) had signs everywhere and had much stronger support at the doors; it was also clear to me that Reich was not popular. However, the votes on questions 1 and 2 in Ward 1 were much closer than I thought, helping the margin.
But my biggest mistake was that I misjudged the African American community of Minneapolis. I was expecting my conversations with Black residents to be my toughest in terms of persuasion. However, with no clear plan on how the MPD was going to be disbanded and violent crime hitting their community quite hard, it turns out they were quite skeptical of Yes for Minneapolis. This reflects in both the voting patterns and the responses I got at the door from Black residents.
Personal Opinions
I was and still am an enthusiastic supporter of strong mayor systems for big cities. Keep in mind that even before Mayor Frey showed up, the weak mayor system had caused serious trouble for previous Minneapolis mayors in terms of their ability to solve urgent problems. I wanted residents to focus less on Mayor Frey and more on the systems themselves.
The Minneapolis Police Department had and still has fundamental problems with racism, brutality, corruption, and basic questions of competence, especially around crimes such as sexual assault. I intellectually understand why the people of Wards 8 and 9 voted in favor of disbanding the MPD. That being said, the people who would replace the MPD with a Department of Public Safety did not have a good track record when it comes to actual governance, and the plan was inexcusably vague even when it made sense at all. Moreover, the council had a year (giving it the months after George Floyd’s murder from May–October 2020 to deal with the immediate situation) to come up with a detailed proposal, something it failed to do. So when it came to question 2, it was about picking the best of two very bad options. Voting no—do not disband the MPD—was the slightly less terrible option.
Conclusions
Many of you may be wondering how this applies to other races.
First of all, it is not an act of White privilege to call the police in certain situations, such as a home break-in. It is an act of White privilege to call the police on a Black person for just existing in a space where they are not “supposed” to be or to harass them for the same reason. Learn the difference.
It turns out that getting rid of the police is not popular with voters of color, especially Black voters. When the far left (or anyone else for that matter) claims to be speaking for marginalized communities, it is usually best to check in with the people for whom they are directly speaking. You will find a much more nuanced picture if you do so.
Claiming that oppressed group A is unilaterally supporting a politically suicidal position is most likely false and not helpful.
What many Black voters at the door told me bluntly was that they want what White Minneapolis residents take for granted from the MPD, a sense of safety and security.
In addition, people want competent governance. They don’t like infighting or dysfunction in any form. That is why question 1 about the strong mayor system was victorious, albeit by a closer margin than I would have liked.
Overall, my time as a canvasser with All of Minneapolis only hardened my perception of the Bernie wing as a liability. Those were the ones who threatened me when I was working (even canvassing the Northside felt safer than dealing with them) and who helped burn the Twin Cities during one of its darkest hours.
Learn from the Minneapolis municipal election of 2021.