North Minneapolis candidates differ on public safety, rent control and economic vitality

Three City Council races across north and northeast Minneapolis underscore issues of housing, public safety and economic opportunity for the neighborhoods of the city's First, Fourth and Fifth Wards.

While candidates say some area neighborhoods are unfairly painted as dangerous and downtrodden, they say many residents' top concerns include such areas as illegal drug activity near their homes house and a lack of a nearby grocery store.

Stretching across the city's Near North, the Fifth Ward features a rematch of sorts between Council Member Jeremiah Ellison and pastor Victor Martinez — two candidates with clearly divergent views.

In 2021, Martinez was among six candidates who challenged Ellison. He finished third in the first round of ranked-choice voting, 400 votes behind the incumbent, and trailed by 360 votes in the second round.

This year, Ellison and Martinez share the ballot with Phillip Peterson, a first-time candidate who describes his political ideology as "American" because he wants to emphasize the nonpartisan nature of the position.

The ideological contrast between Ellison and Martinez is easy to label: Ellison is progressive, sitting to the left of Mayor Jacob Frey; Martinez is among the most-conservative candidates seeking office this year in Minneapolis.

Martinez describes himself as a "moderate Democrat," but he opposes abortion and refuses to say how he voted in 2020 for governor or president.

The city's Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party didn't endorse a candidate in the race, an outcome supported by both candidates after a protracted dispute that featured hundreds of Martinez's delegates being thrown out.

Ellison, 34, a mural artist and son of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, rose to prominence during protests over police killings of Black men and was elected to the council in 2017.

His campaign message is focused heavily on bringing economic and housing opportunities to the ward, which includes the neighborhoods of Harrison, Hawthorne, Jordan, Near-North, North Loop, Sumner-Glenwood and Willard-Hay. His housing priorities include improving renters' rights and enacting a strict rent control policy. He describes those as "prerequisites for public safety."

Martinez, 37, serves as pastor of New Generation Church, an evangelical Pentecostal denomination. As such, he claims it's inappropriate to discuss some of his political opinions.

"As a pastor in ministry, most if not all ministers don't get involved in federal politics," he said in an interview when pressed for whether he voted for Joe Biden or Donald Trump. "Obviously, getting involved myself in politics is problematic, but I have people in my church from both sides of the aisle."

He also refused to say whether he voted for Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, or Republican challenger Scott Jensen.

Martinez did discuss some of his past election choices. For example, he said he voted in recent U.S. House races for then-Rep. Keith Ellison and Rep. Ilhan Omar in her first run in 2018 before backing challenger Don Samuels in 2020. "I'm very pragmatic," he said.

Martinez's campaign has focused on drawing contrasts to Ellison, opposing any form of rent control and espousing a traditional law-and-order message.

"We have to stop demonizing the police," he said.

Crime has been a mainstay of his message, and he frequently attacks Ellison as police abolitionist.

Ellison was one of the architects of the 2020 pledge by nine council members to "begin the process of ending the Minneapolis Police Department" that led to a failed ballot question the following year.

In a recent interview, Ellison said there's nuance to his position.

"My entire public safety framework is how we would create public safety, and police are part of that right now," he said.

Peterson, a 46-year-old grocery store baker, said he decided to run after seeing what he feels is a decline in the vibrancy of his neighborhood since he moved from south Minneapolis six years ago.

"It looked a lot different, more hustle and bustle," he said in an interview. "Granted, we had the murder of George Floyd and the global pandemic, but it's been a minuscule uptick since. Broadway is a ghost town today."

Peterson said he doesn't easily fall into one political camp or another, describing himself as conservative on gun laws but liberal on marijuana policies. He opposes current rent control proposals and favors incentivizing police officers to patrol and live on the North Side by coupling housing incentives with increased pay.

In the Fourth Ward in the northwest corner of the city, three candidates are challenging first-term Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw from various angles.

The ward encompasses the Camden Industrial Area, Cleveland, Folwell, Humboldt Industrial Area, Jordan, Lind-Bohanon, McKinley, Shingle Creek, Victory, Webber-Camden and Willard-Hay neighborhoods.

Vetaw, a former park board member who ousted Council Member Phillipe Cunningham in 2021, is making the case to voters that she's made progress on a range of fronts, including grants to address addiction and work with local and federal officials to reduce the frequency of stopped freight trains blocking major thoroughfares.

"Some of that work has been to increase livability, like my work on public safety, get more officers and enhance the options we have for alternatives," the DFL-endorsed candidate said in an interview.

Vetaw sits on the relatively moderate side of the council's political spectrum, often supporting Frey's priorities. Her opponents hail from her right and her left.

Marvina Haynes, a 39-year-old community organizer who owns a cleaning company, is mounting her first political campaign with a priority on enacting rent control — an idea she's pushed for years, and Vetaw has opposed.

"I'm running on the platform of rent stabilization because rent is too high," Haynes said in an interview in which she also criticized the city's approach to homeless encampments. "And Minneapolis is being run as an authoritarian regime."

Angela Williams, 59, another first-time candidate, said she's running out of frustration that she's seen no results in crime deterrence in the Camden neighborhood where she lives. She said that same frustration led her to abandon the Democratic Party, which she had voted for "my whole life until I started voting for President Trump."

Also running in the race is longtime environmental agitator Leslie Davis, 86, who now describes his political ideology as the "No Vax Party" and says on his website "COVID is a hoax."

In the First Ward, first-term Council Member Elliott Payne is being challenged by Edwin Fruit, a 77-year-old bakery helper running as a socialist.

The ward ranges from the northeast corner of the city, from the Mississippi River to the eastern city limits. It encompasses the neighborhoods of Audubon Park, Bottineau, Columbia Park, Como, Holland, Logan Park, Marshall Terrace, Mid-City Industrial, Northeast Park, Waite Park and Windom Park.

Payne, a DFL-endorsed candidate who generally votes with the more-progressive wing of the council, is campaigning on his record. He touts progress toward his priorities of reforming police and public safety, working toward a rent control policy, and adopting environmental initiatives.

"There is still so much more left to do," he says.

Fruit's message echoes the philosophy of the Socialist Workers Party, arguing, "The deepening economic, moral, and social crisis we face is caused by capitalism."

Early voting for the Nov. 7 election is underway.