Who’s running for Minneapolis mayor and City Council in 2025 elections?

The keys to City Hall are up for grabs on Nov. 4, when all 13 City Council seats and the mayor’s office are up for election.

Minneapolis has used ranked-choice voting since 2009. No primary election is held, so if there are more than two candidates in a race, people “rank” candidates with a first, second and third preference. That way, votes can count toward another candidate if your top candidate loses.

Key dates: The official candidate filing period is from July 29 through Aug. 12. Early voting is from Sept. 19 through Nov. 3. Early voter registration is due Oct. 14. The deadline to apply for a mailed ballot is Oct. 28.

Stay tuned here as announcements become official. If you’re planning to run, email deena.winter@startribune.com and dave.orrick@startribune.com.

Here are the people who have announced so far, alphabetically by last name:

DeWayne Davis, lead minister of Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis, worked as a congressional staffer for 15 years and is the former director of federal relations for Sallie Mae Inc. In 2023, he was the first Black gay person elected as chaplain of the Minnesota Senate. He also co-chaired Mayor Jacob Frey’s Minneapolis Community Safety Work Group that recommended public safety reforms. He and his husband, Kareem Murphy, live in north Minneapolis. Website.

Howard Dotson is a health care chaplain and bereavement counselor who has been Urban Presbyterian pastor for 12 years, police chaplain for four different departments, most recently street chaplain in Minneapolis for the past two years. Website.

Omar Fateh is the first Somali American to serve in the Minnesota Senate and is believed to be the first Somali American state senator in the United States. He’s also one of the few self-identified democratic socialists in the Legislature. He is married and lives in south Minneapolis. Website.

Incumbent Jacob Frey is running for his third four-year term after being elected in 2017. Prior to that, he was a council member representing Ward 3. Before running for public office, Frey worked as an employment and civil rights attorney. He is married to Sarah Clark, and they have a daughter Frida, 4, and are expecting a second daughter in July. Website.

Jazz Hampton and two friends quit their corporate jobs and created a company called TurnSignl after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. The app connects drivers with lawyers who can give them legal advice during traffic stops and after vehicle collisions. He describes himself as a husband, father of three, community advocate, attorney, and business owner. Website.

Emily Koski has represented Ward 11 in south Minneapolis since she was elected in 2021 after campaigning with Frey. Her father, the late Al Hofstede, was elected mayor in the 1970s after serving on the council. Koski worked for Target before owning a small business for more than a decade. She is married to Mike and has a son, Croix, and daughter, Iris. Website.

Brenda Short says she grew up in a small town in Iowa, working in cornfields, bean fields, and a chicken farm. She and her three children were homeless in the Twin Cities before she found temporary shelter and worked various jobs before becoming a homeowner. Website.

Ward 1 lies in the northeast corner of the city. It includes Audubon Park, Bottineau, Columbia Park, Como, Holland, Logan Park, Marshall Terrace, Mid-City Industrial, Northeast Park, Waite Park and Windom Park.

Incumbent Elliott Payne was elected in 2021 and is the president of the council. He previously worked at City Hall as a member of the Office of Performance and Innovation. He pushed to expand alternative responses to public safety by expanding the city’s mental health response and creating a public safety ambassador program along cultural corridors. Website.

Brian Strahan conducted research at the University of Minnesota and in the private sector before he created Keep Smiling Builders, a small remodeling company focused on preserving the old-world charm of Northeast homes while making them more energy-efficient. Website.

Ward 2 stretches across the Mississippi River, on the eastern side of the city. Neighborhoods in this ward include Cedar Riverside, Como, Marcy Holmes, Prospect Park - East River Road, Seward and the University of Minnesota.

Michael Baskins was a write-in candidate for Ward 2 in 2023 and received about 33% of the vote, deriding extreme rent control,” bans on clearing homeless encampments with open drug use and taxpayer-funded sidewalk plowing. Website.

Shelley Madore is a community organizer and former DFL state legislator who spearheaded health care, transportation, and affordable housing reforms. Madore also served as the director of an agency focused on improving state policy that supports people with disabilities. Website.

Incumbent Robin Wonsley was elected in 2021 and became Minneapolis’s first Black democratic socialist city council member. Wonsley served on the board of directors for the Restorative Justice Community Action Network; worked with a group that successfully fought for the $15 minimum wage in Minneapolis and St. Paul; and was a community organizer with the state teachers’ union, Education Minnesota. Website.

Ward 3 stretches from downtown north across the Mississippi River. Neighborhoods in this ward are: Beltrami, Como, Downtown East, Downtown West, Marcy Holmes, Nicollet Island - East Bank, North Loop, Sheridan, St. Anthony East and St. Anthony West.

Incumbent Michael Rainville was elected in 2021 and worked in the hospitality industry as a dishwasher, busboy, and bartender before joining the Minneapolis Convention & Visitors Association. Website.

Emilio César Rodríguez says he’s been fighting for climate policy and immigrant rights through the Drivers’ Licenses for All and North STAR Act movements. Website.

Jacob Thomas says he’s been an organizer in Minnesota for over a decade and worked for his hometown police department’s community safety program, and served eight years in the U.S. Air Force working as a sexual assault victims advocate and serving as a volunteer firefighter. Website.

Ward 4 covers the northwest corner of the city. The Mississippi River serves as its eastern border. Neighborhoods in this ward are: Camden Industrial Area, Cleveland, Folwell, Humboldt Industrial Area, Jordan, Lind-Bohanon, McKinley, Shingle Creek, Victory, Webber-Camden and Willard-Hay.

Marvina Haynes became an advocate when her brother, Marvin Haynes, was wrongfully convicted of murder, after which she founded MN Wrongfully Convicted Judicial Reform to help families. She ran for the council in Ward 4 in 2023. (No website as of last check.)

Incumbent LaTrisha Vetaw worked at NorthPoint Health & Wellness, Inc. for 15 years, serving as the director of health policy and advocacy. She served on the Minneapolis Park Board before being elected to the council in 2021. Website.

Ward 5 also covers parts of northern Minneapolis. Its neighborhoods include Harrison, Hawthorne, Jordan, Near-North, North Loop, Sumner-Glenwood and Willard-Hay.

(Incumbent Jeremiah Ellison is not seeking reelection.)

Ethrophic Burnett has worked for the city for the past seven years, as an aide to former Council Member Phillipe Cunningham, and for the Neighborhood & Community Relations, the Office of Violence Prevention, and currently the City Auditor’s division of oversight and evaluation. Website.

Amber Frederick is a social worker who is a housing coordinator with the YMCA working primarily in Ward 5. She has a background in disability advocacy with Open Arts Minnesota and worked in the Minneapolis Public School district assisting with youth programs. Website.

Pearll Warren is a spoken word artist, poet, comedian and writer who works as homeownership development manager for Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. Website.

Miles Wilson served on the board of the Unity Community Mediation Team, the Community Action Partnership of Hennepin County and the Young People’s Task Force. Website.

Anndrea Young worked for anti-displacement funding from the Legislature and on the Blue Line Coalition, Zero Burn Coalition, Bring Back 6th Coalition and 394/I-94 work group. Website.

Ward 6 covers areas south and east of downtown, including Cedar Riverside, Elliot Park, Phillips West, Seward, Steven’s Square-Loring Heights and Ventura Village.

Incumbent Jamal Osman is the second Somali-American ever elected to the council. Before being elected in 2020, Osman worked with organizations like Common Bond Communities and served on the board of directors for the Phillips Community Clinic. He is a certified mental health trainer. Website.

Ward 7 covers parts of downtown then stretches west. Its neighborhoods include Bryn-Mawr, Cedar-Isles-Dean, Downtown West, East Isles, Kenwood, Linden Hills, Loring Park, Lowry Hill, Steven’s Square-Loring Heights and West Maka Ska.

Incumbent Katie Cashman worked at the United Nations helping municipalities around the world build environmental and social infrastructure; founded a nonprofit that built a community education and resource center; and worked as a project manager at a public interest law firm called the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. She has served on the boards of Meet Minneapolis, the Clean Energy Partnership, the Family Housing Fund Board and the Minneapolis Tree Advisory Commission. She was elected in 2023. Website.

Paula Chesley has worked as a professor and researcher but now teaches yoga and meditation in a mental health clinic. Chesley says she’s running for the council “to bring a renewed focus on safety, economic vitality, and responsive government” and will ensure the Minneapolis Police Department is “fully supported through effective recruitment efforts and fair compensation, while also insisting on accountability measures that rebuild trust with the community.” Website.

Elizabeth Shaffer is a Minneapolis park commissioner whose community work began as a volunteer in Thomas Lowry Park, eventually resulting in her work to help rebuild and transform the Seven Pools. Website.

Ward 8 covers south-central Minneapolis, including the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, where George Floyd was killed. This ward encompasses the Bancroft, Bryant, Central, Field, King Field, Lyndale, Northrop and Regina neighborhoods.

(Incumbent Andrea Jenkins announced March 3 she is not running for reelection.)

Josh Bassais is a former DFL party precinct chair, organizer with the Laborers’ International Union of North America, and board president for the Lyndale Neighborhood Association. Website.

Soren Stevenson narrowly lost to incumbent Andrea Jenkins in 2023. During protests over George Floyd’s police killing, a Minneapolis police officer shot him in the face with a rubber bullet, destroying his left eye. He works for Agate Housing, which runs homeless shelters. Website.

Ward 9 covers central Minneapolis and also includes the intersection of 38th and Chicago where George Floyd was killed. Its neighborhoods include Central, Corcoran, East Phillips, Howe, Longfellow and Powderhorn Park.

Incumbent Jason Chavez served as a legislative aide to state DFL Reps. Carlos Mariani and Mohamud Noor before being elected to the council in 2021. Website.

Marques Jones grew up in the Powderhorn neighborhood, went to Folwell Middle School, and graduated from South High. He is a small business owner and has been a Minneapolis firefighter for the past five years. Website.

Dan Orban was a website programmer at Dell Technologies, moved on to Accenture Technology Labs and worked as a software contractor, a website designer, and graphics programmer before becoming a Ph.D. student. Website.

Ward 10 covers an area commonly referred to as Uptown. Its neighborhoods include East Bde Maka Ska, East Harriet, East Isles, Lowry Hill East, South Uptown and Whittier.

Incumbent Aisha Chughtai was campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and worked at Take Action Minnesota, and as a political organizer for the Service Employees International Union’s Minnesota State Council. She was elected in 2021. Website.

Lydia Millard is executive director for the Stevens Square Community Organization and previously worked in large-scale operations for Target. Website.

Ward 11 covers south-central Minneapolis. Its neighborhoods include Diamond Lake, Field, Hale, Keewaydin, Northrop, Page, Tangletown, Wenonah and Windom.

(Incumbent Emily Koski is running for mayor.)

Mariam Demello is a member of the Minneapolis Charter Commission who has worked for St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter for the past five years. Demello clerked in the criminal division of the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office and the civil division of the Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office. She was am intern for former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and other city departments through the Step-Up and Urban Scholar program. Website.

Jamison Whiting worked at Faegre Drinker, one of Minnesota’s largest law firms, in nonprofit and corporate law, but was inspired to make a “direct difference in public safety” after the police murder of George Floyd, and joined the Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office to work on police reform. Website.

Ward 12 covers the southeastern corner of the city, including Cooper, Ericsson, Hiawatha , Howe, Keewaydin, Minnehaha, Morris Park and Standish.

Incumbent Aurin Chowdhury worked for a decade in grassroots organizing and coalition-building. She managed constituent services for the late Sen. Kari Dziedzic and was a policy aide to Council Member Steve Fletcher and then Jason Chavez before she was elected to the council in 2023. Website.

Becka Thompson is a member of the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board who taught math for over 20 years, has an MBA in finance and has been a professional actress for several decades. Website.

Ward 13 covers the southwestern corner of Minneapolis. Its neighborhoods include Armatage, East Harriet, Fulton, Kenny, Linden Hills and Lynnhurst.

Incumbent Linea Palmisano was elected to City Council in 2013 after serving as board chair of the Linden Hills Neighborhood Council and as an assistant track coach at Southwest High School. She founded NAVIGATE, an immigrant college access program, and was a board member for the Linden Hills Farmers Market. She previously worked at IBM Global Services, UnitedHealth Group, and a local small business. Website.