Talking Points: Eyes on the Minneapolis Ward 8 city council race
MINNEAPOLIS — In less than two weeks, Minnesotans will go to the polls for municipal elections, ballot questions and referendums.
The Minneapolis City Council races are drawing a lot of attention as the Democratic Socialist Party could gain control of a majority of the council seats tipping it sharply left.
In this edition of Talking Points, Esme Murphy spoke with the candidates vying to win the Ward 8 seat.
First, Murphy spoke with Abou Amara, a Democrat analyst, about statewide impact the local elections could have.
"Regardless of whether you live in Minnesota's 87 counties, Minneapolis is an economic driver of the state of Minnesota," said Abou. "So when downtowns are unsafe, businesses go out, that drops property taxes, which means the state collects less taxes, which means we have fewer taxes to put into schools and roads and bridges. And so we need the city of Minneapolis to be strong."
Council President Andrea Jenkins, incumbent Ward 8 candidate, is vying to keep her seat after losing the Minneapolis DFL endorsement to Soren Stevenson, a Democratic Socialist. Some voters consider Jenkins to be too moderate. Jenkins told Murphy she doesn't understand how she's being framed as a moderate.
"I have over 30 years of progressive politics. I've served on every progressive LGBT board in the city of Minneapolis," said Jenkins. "I'm a member of the National HRC Board, the Human Rights Campaign."
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Meanwhile, Stevenson also won the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America. Stevenson lost an eye when he was hit by rubber bullets fired by Minneapolis police in the riots after Floyd's murder. And for that he won a $2.4 million settlement from the city. He says his neighbors asked him to run after the current council failed to meet their needs.
"Under Council President Jenkins, the city has not been meeting our basic needs," said Stevenson. "Our basic needs around public safety that works, our basic needs around police accountability, around housing for all and around dealing boldly with climate change. We are seeing that this city can and should be a kinder and a safer city. And it is unfortunately not that way."
The November Minneapolis City Council elections will once again be conducted using ranked choice voting.
Homelessness is one of the main reasons Terry White entered the race.
"My wife and I both are very upset with seeing the suffering that's happening in the encampments. And I don't think that Andrea Jenkins and the mayor really have a plan on how to address homelessness right now," said White.
READ MORE: Homeless encampment on Minneapolis man's property cleared after months of asking city for help
Meanwhile addressing crime and police reform in Minneapolis is the driving force for Bob Sullentrop.
"I've been mostly concerned about all the crime that's been going on within the city of Minneapolis, and the fact that the police are undermanned. They're down about 200 or 300 officers, I think it is. I know they're trying to get more, but it's a long process." said Sullentrop.
Minnesotans can vote by mail, in person at the Early Vote Center, and at their polling place on Election Day.
NOTE: Above is a preview of Talking Points presented on "The 4."
Talking Points airs every Wednesday and Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., live on CBS News Minnesota.
