The accusation has flown from both sides of this year’s heated Minneapolis City Council races: The money backing our rivals is not really from this city.
All of Mpls, the center-left political action committee that backs Mayor Jacob Frey, said in a fundraising email that “outside agitators” were funding their opponents.
Those opponents? Minneapolis for the Many, a PAC linked with several local left-wing groups, including the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) chapter. In a fundraising email of its own, the group retorted that All of Mpls’ backers actually lived in the suburbs.
“We don’t need corporate developers in Wayzata telling us what’s best for our neighborhoods,” the email read.
Yet money and help from outside Minneapolis are flowing to both sides, a MinnPost analysis of campaign finance data shows.
- Minneapolis for the Many reported raising just under $92,000 through mid-September this year, around one-quarter of which can be tied directly to a Minneapolis resident or to an organization headquartered in the city.
- The biggest single donor to Minneapolis for the Many was a Massachusetts-based PAC that raises money nationally to support local candidates and causes on the left. A representative for that group, Movement Voter PAC Minnesota, said the group is actually bundling contributions from hundreds of donors who do live in Minneapolis and Minnesota. However, the group hasn’t filed a campaign finance report this year, so it’s not clear what proportion of its donors are local. (That’s why there’s a special color in the pie chart above.)
- All of Mpls raised more than $443,000, a little more than half of which came from Minneapolis residents or Minneapolis-based organizations.
- All of Mpls’ largest individual contributor was a Wayzata resident: Major DFL donor Vance Opperman gave $50,000. All of Mpls campaign manager Leili Fatehi drew a distinction between nationally-headquartered groups and suburban-dwelling donors who have ties to the city: “They’re part of the Minneapolis civic ecosystem.”
- Candidates themselves have raised more than $1.2 million, and at least half of that total came from Minneapolis – though around one-fifth of the contributions didn’t include the donors’ address.
Why this matters
All this money is funding ads and voter outreach efforts in Minneapolis’ most hotly-contested City Council races. The spending matters because both camps have contrasting policy visions on issues as varied as unhoused encampment policies, major street projects, or even whether to enact a city-run sidewalk shoveling program. The makeup of the new council will also determine the level of collaboration – or pushback – Frey can expect from the city’s legislative body.
“This November, it’s a stark choice,” wrote Minneapolis for the Many spokesperson Chelsea McFarren in a statement to MinnPost. “Elect a council majority with the courage to lead with compassion and provide the essential city services we deserve, or stick with business as usual with Frey and his allies.”
Does it matter that two crucial PACs in this year’s races are accepting large sums from the suburbs or out of state; especially when both have made an issue out of their opponents doing so?
“I think I’d ask your question a little differently,” wrote Javier Morillo, senior state strategy director for Movement Voter PAC Minnesota, in an email. “When looking at those of us investing in Minneapolis, I’d ask, what is it folks are investing in? Our donors support groups working to build a vibrant multiracial democracy.”
Fatehi argued All of Mpls backs candidates with a “pragmatic” approach to issues ranging from public safety to rent control. She contended out-of-state donors’ interest in the city elections is predominantly ideological.
“Minneapolis and the Twin Cities have been identified by groups who favor socialist policies as a good political laboratory for testing these policies, and often testing them to see what their effect is on electoral outcomes,” Fatehi said.
From where does Minneapolis for the Many’s money come?
Minneapolis for the Many received $16,795 in contributions from individuals, all of whom live in the city. The group also received a $5,000 contribution from the Twin Cities DSA Political Fund and $10,000 from the American Federation of Teachers – the Washington, D.C.-based parent union for the local chapter that represents Minneapolis school district teachers.
However, when Movement Voter PAC Minnesota made its $40,000 contribution on Sept. 1, Minneapolis for the Many’s fundraising total for the year more-than doubled instantly.
“Movement Voter PAC is essentially a one-stop shop for donors who want to invest in local organizations,” explained Morillo. “We raise money from progressive donors – big and small – from across the country.”
While Movement Voter PAC hopes to usher in a “progressive era” in communities across the U.S., Morillo said, “We believe that investing in local organizing is actually the fastest path to achieving this vision.” He points to his PAC's partnership with groups like Faith in Minnesota – the political arm of the St. Paul-based interfaith organizing powerhouse ISAIAH.
Last year, Movement Voter PAC Minnesota reported more than $412,000 in contributions, and all but $2,300 of that 2022 total came from outside of Minnesota.
This year, Movement Voter PAC Minnesota hasn’t contributed to candidates or made an “independent expenditure” to influence a race – for example, ran an ad in a City Council race; or paid for canvassers to knock on doors on a candidates’ behalf. Because of this, the PAC wouldn’t be required to file a mid-year campaign finance report that would show where its donors lived, according to Jeff Sigurdson, the executive director of the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.
Morillo said the PAC counts “over 800 (donors) in Minnesota and over 400 in Minneapolis alone.” However, Fatehi said that her rivals haven’t “shown the receipts” for these donations.
“Even if you have folks in Minneapolis that are bundling money with a national organization that then redistributes it, it's still a demonstration that there is this national intermediary ultimately representing a broader political ideology than just the interests of the residents of Minneapolis,” Fatehi said.
From where does All of Mpls’ money come?
All of Mpls reported $211,000 from individual donors who live in Minneapolis.
The Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce also passed along the money left over (about $15,000) from a now-shuttered political committee formed in 2021 to help defeat a ballot question that would’ve replaced the police department, and to help enact the “strong mayor” system.
Minneapolis-based labor unions gave a total of $6,000 to All of Mpls. The group also received $50,000 from the North Central States Carpenters PAC and $15,000 from the Sheet Metal Workers PAC – two unions with headquarters outside the city limits.
“The address shows up as being outside of Minneapolis, but their members live and work in Minneapolis,” Fatehi contended.
More than 98% of the group’s donations come from Minnesota, and aside from the Minneapolis contributions, more than 46% of the group’s contributions come from either St. Paul or suburbs of the Twin Cities.
“These are folks who are members of community work that happens in Minneapolis or they own businesses in Minneapolis,” Fatehi said.
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All of Mpls endorsed incumbents Michael Rainville (Ward 3), LaTrisha Vetaw (Ward 4), Andrea Jenkins (Ward 8), Emily Koski (Ward 11) and Linea Palmisano (Ward 13) as well as two candidates for open seats: Scott Graham (Ward 7) and Luther Ranheim (Ward 12).
In the three contests that All of Mpls considers “priority races” – Wards 7, 8 and 12 – the group has launched independent expenditures on behalf of its favored candidates: $17,333 each to support Graham, Jenkins and Ranheim. Filings show this money is paying for digital ads and “grassroots strategy and engagement,” as well as mailers supporting these candidates.
Allied groups
Minneapolis for the Many has endorsed City Council incumbents Jeremiah Ellison (Ward 5) and Aisha Chughtai (Ward 10), and candidates Katie Cashman (Ward 7), Soren Stevenson (Ward 8) and Aurin Chowdhury (Ward 12).
Minneapolis for the Many had not made any independent expenditures on any of these candidates’ races as of Sept. 19, the cutoff date for the most recent campaign finance report. (Campaign mail from the group that’s now featured in our political mail tracker started arriving after Sept. 19.)
However, other groups also spent to help Minneapolis for the Many’s slate of candidates.
The TakeAction Political Fund, which often advocates on behalf of DFL candidates across Minnesota and left-wing causes in various local races, threw more than $34,000 into Minneapolis City Council races. Most of that money paid canvassers to contact voters and urge their support of Ellison in Ward 5 and Stevenson in Ward 8. The group also spent a few hundred dollars on outreach in Ward 12 on Chowdhury’s behalf.
The only contributor to the TakeAction Political Fund is the group’s parent organization, which is based in St. Paul.
St. Paul-based Faith in Minnesota also contributed $20,000 to Minneapolis for the Many, and spent around $2,000 on voter outreach for Cashman in Ward 7, as well as Stevenson and Chowdury.
All of Mpls did most of the heavy lifting to support the candidates on its slate. However, one other group, the Minneapolis Downtown Council PAC, spent a total of $2,600 contributing to the campaigns of Ranheim, Koski, Vetaw, Graham, Jenkins, Rainville and Palmisano.
What about the candidates themselves?
Most contributions to City Council candidates’ campaigns between January 2022 and August 2023 came from within the city of Minneapolis, a MinnPost analysis of dozens of city campaign finance records shows.
Out of the $1.2 million in contributions that candidates in all 13 wards reported, at least $639,000 came from Minneapolis.
In reality, the total of Minneapolis-based donations to candidates is likely higher. Candidates don’t report the addresses of donors who make small cash contributions, and they collectively received more than $216,000-worth of those. In addition, donors who withheld their addresses for security reasons gave more than $18,000.
However, at least $169,000 in contributions originated in state but outside Minneapolis or St. Paul, and another $65,000 came from out-of-state.
