Party endorsement policies fuel convention chaos

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Kudos to Dave Orrick, and to the Star Tribune, for the May 15 article on what caused chaos at the Minneapolis 10th Ward DFL convention on May 13 ("DFL official blames Warsame campaign in melee"). But one needs to dig deeper to understand the root cause: DFL endorsement is too valuable.

In Minneapolis, and in all DFL-dominated jurisdictions, securing "DFL endorsement" essentially means securing the seat. The DFL bestows so many benefits upon the one-and-only "endorsed candidate," that it becomes almost impossible for anyone else to compete.

Only the endorsed candidate has access to the DFL voter database. Only the endorsed candidate can use that moniker on campaign literature. The DFL distributes sample ballots across the jurisdiction, containing only the name of the endorsed candidate. The DFL expects everyone holding a DFL office to campaign for the endorsed candidate and prohibits officeholders from campaigning for competitors.

The DFL urges unsuccessful candidates for endorsement to exit the race, so that voters have only one DFL choice in the fall. And because the jurisdiction is DFL-dominated, that effectively means that voters have only one choice, period.

Because DFL-endorsement is so extraordinarily valuable in DFL-dominated jurisdictions, endorsing conventions are fraught, because the stakes are so high. Candidates pour many resources into getting endorsed. Increasingly, nationally funded organizations activate their members to flood endorsing conventions on behalf of the candidate who agrees to their demands, so that the person who secures office with their help is more beholden to them than to constituents.

At the 2022 Hennepin County DFL Convention, People Over Prosecution and Faith in Minnesota turned out their members so that Mary Moriarty got the prize endorsement for county attorney. At the 2023 Minneapolis 12th Ward convention, Faith in Minnesota and Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America turned out their members to ensure that Aurin Chowdhury got the prize nod for City Council.

DFL Party officers can set and execute policies that make it more or less likely for certain candidates to get endorsed. If they feel strongly about a race, the temptation to use that power to manipulate the process is intense. Even if they don't succumb, the suspicion that they have always is there, placing everyone on edge, so that eruptions are more likely to occur.

Endorsing conventions have the same impact as elections, but they are not real elections. Elections are run by professionals with the Secretary of State's office and are constrained by election laws. Endorsing conventions are run by party activists, who are amateurs, and while they supposedly are constrained by the DFL Constitution, often they are not.

In real elections, all registered voters can participate. In Minneapolis DFL conventions, a maximum of 400 can participate. The 10th Ward in Minneapolis is home to more than 20,000 registered voters; the endorsing convention was limited to 2% of them.

In essence, a very small fraction of the jurisdiction's voters determine who gets the seat. Ordinary voters, including Somali voters, can be forgiven if they confuse an endorsing convention with an election.

Orrick says, "While police continued to investigate … senior members of the city and state DFL Party prepared for a meeting later this week to get a handle on what happened … and to figure out how to prevent it from happening again."

If the party really wants to prevent such embarrassments, it should re-examine its endorsement policies in jurisdictions where it dominates. Minneapolis City Council seats are nonpartisan. There is no primary but there is ranked-choice voting in the fall, and there essentially is no chance that a Republican will win. Why does the party endorse for these seats? Indeed, why does the party endorse for any seat in jurisdictions where it dominates?

The party could choose to not endorse in DFL-dominated jurisdictions, or to raise the threshold for endorsement from 60% to 80%, or to spread the benefits to multiple candidates who are "DFL-approved."

Such structural changes would lower the intensity around conventions, because they would lower the stakes. They would give voters more options, remove what has become organizational dominance and restore DFL legitimacy. I hope that when senior leadership meets, it reflects upon its own policies and how they contribute to what happened in the 10th Ward. The party has the power to address the root cause.

Jessica Shaten, of Minneapolis, is a DFL precinct chair.