Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on November 4, 2021

A shorthand voters guide for Tuesdays mayoral election in Minneapolis could have defined the choice of candidates as left, left and lefter.

The winner, incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey, was one of the lefts, even if he ran to the right.

For Minneapolis, Jacob Frey is a Republican, Carin Mrotz, executive director of Minnesotas Jewish Community Action, quipped of the 40-year-old Frey, a staunch member of Minnesotas Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.

Its Minneapolis, so its a given that the mayor is going to be a Democrat, Mrotz, whose group champions racial and economic justice issues, continued of the city where the last Republican mayor who held office for only one day served in 1973.

Although Tuesdays ballot in fact displayed the names of 19 candidates representing various political stripes, the top three finishers Tuesday were Frey, former state Rep. Kate Knuth and community activist Sheila Nezhad. In the second and final round of the citys ranked choice voting system, Frey received 56% of the vote and Knuth 44%.

Both to Freys left, Knuth and Nezhad supported a ballot question asking voters to eliminate the Minneapolis Police Department in favor of an as-yet undefined public safety department. The initiative can trace its origins at least in part to the defund the police slogan, sparked by public outcry following the police murder of George Floyd. It should be noted, however, that some reform ideas, such as social workers responding with Minneapolis police officers to calls involving mental illness, pre-date Floyds murder.

Frey, who depending on your political persuasion famously or infamously told firefighters to stand down when the Third Precinct police headquarters was burned to the ground following Floyds murder, opposed the measure.

That gambit paid off, with voters of various backgrounds, including some Black erstwhile police reform advocates, turning down the measure. The sentiment appeared to prevail across the country Tuesday, with Virginia voters giving Republicans an upset win in the governors race, and New York Citys election of Eric Adams, a less-than-left-wing Democrat and former NYPD chief, as mayor.

In Minneapolis, Jews were on both sides of the police measure.

I worked on the public safety issue, said Enzi Tanner, a colleague of Mrotz at JCA. Even though it didnt win, I do have a lot of hope for what happened in Minneapolis, he continued, counting as a victory a shift by Frey toward adapting some components of the police measure, such as a change in the required minimum number of police officers.

Dudley Deshommes was on the other side.

I live in the suburbs, but I want to be able to still frequent downtown and still feel safe, he said, attributing Freys victory in part to the measures defeat.

Yet he said he was surprised Frey had won.

A month ago, a friend of mine and I were saying, I dont think hell be reelected. You had the pandemic, then George Floyd, then defund the police, then him fighting the City Council, and reopening George Floyd Square to traffic. I thought, Theres no way.

Despite those adversities, the way stands to be brighter for Frey, to whom voters handed an added victory in the passage of another ballot measure one that will strengthen the powers of the mayor, taking away from the city council the authority to fire department heads. Frey himself seemed surprised that it succeeded.

And theyre all reporting? Frey asked of the election returns in a clip broadcast by KARE-TV. Wow. So, I think thats actually the most important thing on the entire ballot.

So now empowered, what does the reelection of this Jewish mayor mean to his various constituencies?

Or to put it parochially and in the vernacular, is it good for the Jews?

Is it good for Jews? Good for Blacks? Deshommes said, elaborating on my question to cover both of his dual ethnicities and mine.

Thats to be seen. I hate to make a comparison to Ilhan Omar, he said of the Minneapolis member of The Squad of progressive Democratic members of Congress.

Is she good for the Jews? Is she good for Blacks? Just because you have that D behind your name he said, with his voice trailing off and the sentence left unfinished.

Because the left has a lot of work to do.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward.

The Jewish mayor of Minneapolis won reelection. Is it good for the Jews?

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The Jewish mayor of Minneapolis won reelection. Is it good for the Jews? - Forward

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