Local elections in Minneapolis are already off to a heated start. Twenty-eight party insiders just took away the Democratic party’s endorsement of Omar Fateh for Minneapolis mayor. Fateh supporters have condemned this move – not because they disagree that there were issues the day of the convention, but because the technicalities didn’t ultimately disrupt the outcome.

This is a vital moment to support downballot progressives with strong climate justice visions, and that’s why we’re endorsing Omar Fateh.

• Omar Fateh for Minneapolis Mayor: Omar Fateh is an MN State Senator running a powerful grassroots campaign against incumbent Mayor Frey, who has repeatedly blocked the city council from taking strong climate action. As Mayor, Fateh will implement carbon fees passed by the City Council and cut carbon emissions by weatherizing all homes and prioritizing the transition to electric city vehicles. Fateh is a champion of environmental justice and is committed to cleaning up historically polluted neighborhoods and investing in permanent shelters to protect the community during extreme weather events.

Minneapolis has set historically strong commitments for clean energy, but implementation requires support from the City Council and the Mayor. Incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey has repeatedly blocked the City Council from taking strong climate action and, this November, we have the opportunity to elect a veto proof majority in the City Council, along with a new mayor who will act as a true climate champion.

• Robin Wonsley for Minneapolis City Council Ward 2: Wonsley has spent the past decade fighting for a better Minneapolis as a labor and community organizer and was elected to City Council in 2021. She’s helped win carbon fees on the city’s largest polluters, expanded investments in green infrastructure and fought to guarantee greater protection for environmental activists. She will continue the fight to make polluters pay and work to create a just transition fund and robust green jobs training programs for the city. Keeping this seat is critical to winning a veto proof majority on the council.

• Soren Stevenson for Minneapolis City Council Ward 8: A local activist and housing advocate, Stevenson is running for City Council to improve public transportation and to urgently transition the city’s buildings and electricity generation to clean renewable energy. He advocates for fees on carbon to fund resiliency and improvement in neighborhoods unfairly burdened by polluting and aging infrastructure and for the City to lead on networked geothermal heating and cooling systems. Winning this seat is critical to winning a veto proof majority on the council.

• Katie Cashman for Minneapolis City Council Ward 7: Before being elected to Council in 2023, Cashman advocated for climate action on many fronts. She worked at the MN Center for Environmental Advocacy using the law to fight for the environment, as the founder of a small business which trains teachers to bring climate change science into the classroom, or at the UN where she helped cities globally build sustainable infrastructure. As a Council Member, she has led on negotiating clean energy goals with utilities, implementing fees from polluters to fund weatherization and retrofitting work, and fighting back against highway expansion. Defending this seat is critical to winning a veto proof majority on the council.
• Aisha Chughtai for Minneapolis City Council Ward 10: Before being elected to Council, Chughtai was a union organizer at the SEIU where she led its political programming, and managed campaigns to elect well known progressives like Ilhan Omar and Bernie Sanders. After getting elected as the youngest person ever on Council, she served on the Clean Energy Partnership and helped pass the creation of a new carbon fee to ensure the city’s highest polluters foot the bill for its climate programs.