Minneapolis doesn’t have a strong mayor, it has strong donors

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Minneapolis is a progressive city. Minnesota has the highest voter turnout in the country, lead by the highest-turnout precincts in Minneapolis — that translates to some of the largest vote margins in the nation. Our state has been a pale blue dot in a vast expanse of red since Ronald Reagan swept the nation in 1980, and Minneapolis has carried statewide outcomes ever since. So if Minneapolis is so reliably left-leaning, why are our local elections so contentious? The answer is simple — the strength of the donors.

The donor base in Minneapolis flexes its power under many names, but the most influential organization to put its thumb on the scale in recent municipal elections is All of Mpls. All of Mpls is a corporate-backed super PAC that was created by the Chamber of Commerce. Its purpose is to advance the interests of its large donors who are able to maximize their profits by influencing outcomes at City Hall. Their track record is to uplift the mayor and to attack the City Council because they see us on the council as a threat to their interests. They have been effective at influence because they have been able to convince people to be outraged about City Council while deflecting any accountability for the mayor. The names of these super PACs may change, but their donors are a consistent force in our local politics.

They have been most successful in convincing voters that the City Council has defunded the police. The fact is that police funding has increased every year since the 2021 election, including historic pay raises passed by City Council in 2024. But wealthy donors don’t let facts get in the way of a story that advances their interests.

How do the above facts get spun into a story that the council defunded the police? Easy — all the mayor has to do is artificially inflate the budget (raising your property taxes along the way), then bash those of us on the City Council when we show fiscal discipline by lowering your property taxes while making priority investments in programs that our constituents have asked for. The mayor sets up the attack, and the wealthy donors follow through — unleashing a flood of angry emails expressing outrage at the council. Most of the people who are activated by these super PACs don’t know who’s behind them or what their interests are. In fact, many of them don’t even live in city. These super PACs send a slew of communications that are designed to distract — to make sure your outrage about the government’s failure to address homelessness, safety and crime are directed away from the mayor (the singular executive in control of local government) and toward the City Council. Council members spend a tremendous amount of time in the community, understanding the needs and concerns of their constituents and prioritizing them over the corporations that fund these super PACS. That is why we are enemy No. 1.

All we have to do is watch Elon Musk and his DOGE minions dismantling our federal government to see where this money and influence leads to. The wealthy elites have turned the presidency into an unchecked king, and they don’t care who sits on the throne as long as they are in control. As our local elections heat up this year, it’s more important than ever that we recognize the impact of wealthy donors on democratic outcomes and ask ourselves who our next mayor will stand with, us or the wealthy donors. And do we want a united council majority as an effective check on executive power, or do we want to let the wealthy donors hand pick the legislative body to act as a rubber stamp for the administration? We don’t have to make guesses about what that looks like. All we have to do is watch what’s happening in Washington.

Elliott Payne is Minneapolis City Council president. He represents Ward 1.