Early voting in local municipal and school board elections around the state begins Aug. 25. That includes the mayor's race in Minneapolis.

Fifteen candidates have filed to run for mayor of Minneapolis, including incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey, who is running for a third term. Rising to the top of his challengers: Minnesota state Sen. Omar Fateh, who last month beat Frey to win the Minneapolis DFL endorsement.

Fundraising figures for the race show Frey has raised $647,000, Fateh $268,000 dollars, DeWayne Davis has $174,000 and Jazz Hampton has $77,000. 

Fateh is a Democratic Socialist, part of a surging progressive wing of the Democratic Party both in Minnesota and nationwide.

Fateh was a guest on WCCO Sunday Morning at 10:30 a.m. 

"Yes, they want to make it seem that our campaign is a long shot, but it's really not," Fateh said. "We got the DFL endorsement because we had a broad coalition of folks."  

One of the policies Fateh supports is an additional income tax on "wealthy" Minneapolis residents.

"I would say if someone makes a million dollars or above, they would be considered wealthy," Fateh said. "We want to come up with a way the wealthy pay their fair share."

Fateh also supports rent stabilization, a $20 minimum wage, 24-hour bus lanes on Hennepin Avenue and in 2022 supported a losing charter amendment that critics say would have defunded the police.

"The city's own report showed that 47% of 911 calls can be diverted away from police officers and I think that drives really well with what we heard at the Capitol with law enforcement officers saying we can't respond to every call you need," Fateh said.

Fateh and other progressives have been critical of the Minneapolis Police Department's role in a chaotic federal search warrant in June on Lake Street. Immigration and Customs Enforcement participated in the search warrant. Minneapolis police say they had no advance notice of the federal raid and showed up only as it was happening to try and provide crowd control. An audit cleared Minneapolis police of accusations they violated the city's regulation against participating in immigration proceedings.

WCCO has invited and is expecting Frey to be a guest on WCCO Sunday Morning after the State Fair.

You can watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Adam Del Rosso every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.