2013 Minneapolis mayoral election

Minneapolis mayoral election, 2013

November 5, 2013 (2013-11-05)

Incumbent Mayor R. T. Rybak Democratic (DFL)

The Minneapolis mayoral election of 2013 will be held on November 5, 2013 to elect the Mayor of Minneapolis. It will be the second election in the city's history to use a ranked choice voting system first implemented in the city's 2009 elections. After incumbent Mayor R. T. Rybak announced in late 2012 that he would not seek a fourth term, a number of candidates began campaigns to replace him. Most of these candidates sought the endorsement of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, though the convention ultimately ended with no endorsement. The elections are officially non-partisan.

Background

Minneapolis's 2009 elections were the first in the city's history to implement a system of ranked choice voting (RCV), whereby voters ranked up to their first three choices for an office instead of voting for just one. Turnout that year was, however, the city's lowest in decades with under 46,000 ballots being cast. Incumbent mayor R.T. Rybak won over 33,000 of those votes on the first round of voting, surpassing 22,579 which was the threshold of 50% of ballots cast plus one that were necessary to win the election. A 2010 report prepared for the Minneapolis Elections Department by David Schultz and Kristi Rendahl of Hamline University determined that it was unclear whether the RCV system had met its stated goals of "increasing voter turnout, encouraging more candidates to run, [and] promoting more support for third party candidates."

On December 27, 2012, Rybak, who has been in office since 2001, announced that he would not seek a fourth term as mayor.

Candidates

The official filing period with the City of Minneapolis for mayoral candidacy began on July 30 and lasted for two weeks, until August 13. Candidates had until August 15 to withdraw and have their names taken off of the ballot. In March 2013, City Councilmember Cam Gordon proposed raising the fee to run for mayor to $500, a move intended to "discourag[e] frivolous candidates" according to the Star Tribune. However, the fee remained at $20 for the 2013 filing period. While the election is officially non-partisan, there was a space on the affidavits of candidacy for candidates to declare their "Political Party or Principle".

Declared

Name	Party/Alliance	Source(s)	Web Site(s)
* Mark V. Anderson	(Simplify Government)		_
* Merrill Anderson	(Jobs & Justice)		_
* Mark Andrew,    former Hennepin County Commissioner	(DFL)		_
* Neal Baxter	(Independent)		_
* Troy Benjegerdes	(Local Energy/Food)		_
* Alicia K. Bennett	(DFL)		_
* Edmund Bernard Bruyere	(Legacy — Next Generation)		_
* Bob "Again" Carney Jr	(Demand Transit Revolution)		_
* Jackie Cherryhomes,    former City Council President, lobbyist	(DFL)		_
* Christopher Clark	(Libertarian)		_
* Dan Cohen,    former City Councilmember, Ward 7	(Independent)		_
* James Everett	(Green)		_
* Bob Fine	(DFL)		_
* Cyd Gorman	(Police Reform)		_
* Mike Gould	(DFL)		_
* Kurtis W. Hanna	(Pirate)		_
* John Leslie Hartwig	(Independent)		_
* Betsy Hodges,    City Councilmember, Ward 13	(DFL)		_
* Gregg A. Iverson	(DFL)		_
* Bill Kahn	(Last Minneapolis Mayor)		_
* Jaymie Kelly	(Stop Foreclosures Now)		_
* Tony Lane	(Socialist)		_
* Doug Mann	(Green)		_
* Abdun M. Rahaman "The Rock"	(We the People...)		_
* Joshua Rea	(End Homelessness Now)		_
* Don Samuels,    City Councilmember, Ward 5	(DFL)		_
* Ole Savior	(Republican)		_
* Captain Jack Sparrow	(Count All Rankings)		_
* James "Jimmy" L. Stroud, Jr.	(The People's Choice)		_
* Jeffrey Alan Wagner	(DFL)		_
* John Charles Wilson	(Lauraist Communist)		_
* Cam Winton,    responsible inclusive), attorney	(Independent)		_
* Stephanie Woodruff,    software executive and Citizen Member of Minneapolis Audit Committee	(DFL)		_
* Rahn V. Workcuff	(Independence)		_
* Christopher Robin Zimmerman	(Libertarian)		_

Declined

Tina Smith in 2012

• John Erwin, Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Commissioner
• Jim Graves, businessman and Democratic nominee for the 6th congressional district in 2012
• Tom Hoch, President and CEO of the Hennepin Theatre Trust
• R. T. Rybak, incumbent Mayor
• Hussein Samatar, Minneapolis School Board member
• Tina Smith, chief of staff to Governor Mark Dayton

Withdrawn

Schiff, Thomas

On June 19, DFL City Councilmember Gary Schiff announced an end to his campaign and backed Hodges. Jim Thomas announced his departure from the race on August 12 and put his support behind Andrew.

Campaigns

Announcements

Almost a month before Rybak announced that he intended to leave office, Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) City Councilmember Betsy Hodges of Minneapolis's thirteenth ward declared that she would run for mayor. Her plans, however, were contingent upon whether Rybak would elect to run for a fourth time. When Rybak made his announcement in December 2012, Hodges formally proclaimed her candidacy.

The Star Tribune reported in early December 2012 that former DFL City Council President Jackie Cherryhomes was also considering a bid for the mayor's office. Cherryhomes last held office in 2001, but remained involved at the Minneapolis City Hall as a lobbyist. Like Hodges, she only intended to run if Rybak opted not to and, like Hodges, she announced that she would run promptly after Rybak declared he would not, on December 27.

DFL City Councilmember Gary Schiff from Minneapolis's ninth ward was also mulling a mayoral run in mid-December when he filed paperwork to form a committee that could support his potential candidacy. Unlike Hodges and Cherryhomes, Schiff stated that whether he would run or not would probably not be contingent upon what Rybak decided to do. On January 29, Schiff announced that he would seek the mayor's seat.

Fifth ward City Councilmember Don Samuels, another DFLer, was considering running for the office shortly after Rybak announced that he wouldn't run again. Samuels had served on the City Council for a decade at that time and had most recently run but dropped out of a race for Hennepin County Commissioner. A day after Schiff made his candidacy official, Samuels entered the race as well, becoming the third sitting member of City Council to do so.

Mark Andrew, formerly a Hennepin County Commissioner and the chair of the DFL from 1995 until 1997, expressed in early January that he was "very interested" in potentially vying for the position of mayor. Since leaving public office, Andrew had begun GreenMark, an environmental marketing firm. He officially declared his candidacy on February 7, 2013, acknowledging his late entrance into the race relative to some of his opponents.

Running as an independent, attorney Cam Winton is mentioned in a Star Tribune article dated March 20, 2013. Winton, a Republican, stated that he did not intend to seek the DFL endorsement, making him the only candidate declared at the time to do so.

Dan Cohen, a Republican former City Councilmember, said on May 28 that he would run for mayor if the DFL failed to agree on an endorsement. Cohen, who sits on Minneapolis's Charter and Planning Commissions, was a Councilmember in the 1960s He last ran for mayor in 1969, losing to Charles Stenvig. Cohen formally declared his candidacy on June 18.

Pre-convention debates

The first debate between mayoral candidates took place on March 27 at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Moderated by professor of political science Larry Jacobs, as well as some of his students, the debate included Andrew, Hodges, Schiff, Cherryhomes, and Samuels, noted by Jacobs as being the "leading DFL candidates". Winton observed the debate from the audience but was not invited to participate as he was not seeking the DFL endorsement. Candidates fielded questions on the Vikings Stadium (responding anywhere from heavily in favor of the project to staunchly against it), property taxes (no candidate accepted a pledge from Jacobs not to raise them), how to reviatlize North Minneapolis, and their qualifications for the job of mayor.

DFL endorsement convention

Samuels, Hodges, Cherryhomes, Andrew, Schiff, and Thomas seated at the DFL endorsement convention on June 15, 2013

An endorsement convention was held by the DFL on June 15, 2013, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. All candidates then declared with the exception of Winton (Andrew, Cherryhomes, Hodges, Samuels, Schiff, and Thomas) sought the nomination and were present at the event. Sixty percent of delegate votes were required to receive the endorsement.

During the first round of voting, Jim Thomas, Cheryhomes, and Samuels were eliminated as each failed to secure the ten percent of the vote required to move on to the second round. Schiff was eliminated after the second ballot, leaving Andrew and Hodges. Andrew came first in every round of voting but never reached the 60 percent threshold. Hodges invited her delegates outside of the Convention Center to eat pizza. Their absence meant that a quorum was not present at the convention and so, on the fifth ballot, the convention ended with no endorsement.