Three wards still undecided on Minneapolis City Council
UPDATE (Nov. 9, 2023): Soren Stevenson conceded the race Thursday to Council President Andrea Jenkins. What follows is a modified version of the original story.
MINNEAPOLIS — In Minneapolis, all 13 city council seats appeared on the ballot.
Candidates secured enough votes to win in 10 of them, according to preliminary results. The city uses ranked-choice voting, where voters pick first, second, and third preferences if they want to.
MINNESOTA ELECTIONS 2023: Latest results, city council races, school boards and more
As of 10:45 p.m. Tuesday, three wards need to advance to a second ballot tabulation — that's when officials calculate voters' second choices.
A candidate needs 50% + 1 to win outright, otherwise second choices are allocated until someone gets there.
In Wards 6, 7, and 8, no one secured that majority.
Council President Andrea Jenkins is the incumbent in Ward 8 and faced a competitive race with her closest challenger Soren Stevenson, who ran to her left. After losing by just 38 votes, Stevenson decided to forgo a recount, and conceded the race Thursday.
The political makeup of Minneapolis City Council is between progressive and very progressive Democrats. And who has a bigger say over policies in the state's largest city hangs in the balance.
"I think in Minneapolis, it's kind of 50 Shades of Blue," said DFL analyst Abou Amara. "And so the question is, how blue are you? You could be left, far left, and what that means is that from a governing standpoint, there's been some real difficulties, ideological fights. These aren't political fights between red and blue. It's really core ideas around housing, public safety, and development and the role that plays in our city."
Four of five Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidates are projected to win, according to the preliminary results.
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