St. Paul DFL endorses three City Council candidates

St. Paul DFLers endorsed three people running for City Council in a whirlwind weekend of conventions, one of which lasted for more than nine hours before delegates walked out.

Party conventions typically end in an endorsement or a consensus decision to forgo one, but in St. Paul's First Ward on Saturday, neither happened. Frustrated by the long process and alleged procedural missteps, a majority of delegates left Central High School before final votes could be taken.

"That was a disappointing turn of events as our community members devoted their time and energy to this process," Dieu Do, chair of the St. Paul DFL, said in a statement Sunday. "I will be working closely with our central committee on any next steps."

In the Third, Fifth and Seventh wards, DFLers endorsed Saura Jost, Hwa Jeong Kim and Cheniqua Johnson.

The council is poised for big changes next year. All seven seats are on the ballot in November, and only three current members are seeking re-election. In mid-March, those incumbents — Mitra Jalali, Nelsie Yang and Rebecca Noecker — faced no challengers as they sought and received the party's nod.

The DFL stamp of approval has long carried weight in Minnesota's largely liberal capital city, with the promise of campaign resources and coordination. At caucuses in March, party members elected a couple of hundred delegates, who attend a convention and vote on the endorsement.

The conventions, which are held separately for each ward, offered an early chance for DFLers to hear where candidates stand on issues ranging from potholes to public safety to rent control.

Over the weekend, DFLers also pointed out that the current party process can winnow down candidate pools before they have a chance to engage with most voters. St. Paul switched to ranked-choice voting in 2011 and does not hold party primaries, but DFLers routinely ask candidates whether they will suspend their campaign if they do not receive the endorsement.

In the First Ward, which includes the Frogtown and Summit-University neighborhoods, an initial delegate vote was mostly split between three of five candidates: Anika Bowie, James Lo and Omar Syed. No candidate garnered the 60% of votes needed to earn the endorsement.

In an email Sunday, Lo said, "It was clear since the start of the convention that the DFL Party was not prepared," pointing to confusion over whether certain attendees were delegates or alternates. Lo dropped out after the convention's second ballot and called for the party to make no endorsement in the race.

His campaign and Syed's both said they do not think the First Ward should host a second convention. Both candidates also said they would continue their campaigns without the endorsement.

"We respect the long-held tradition of the DFL endorsement process. However, keeping delegates in a room for over 10 hours to vote for an endorsement is not accessible nor equitable," Jacob Hooper, Syed's campaign manager, said in an email Sunday.

Bowie's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday, though she said on Twitter that she was "saddened to see campaigns walk out rather than follow the rules requiring five ballots."

Do, the city DFL chair, said Bowie "remained in the lead" before delegates broke quorum.

DFLers in the Third Ward, which includes the Highland Park and Macalester-Groveland neighborhoods, had a much quicker convention, with Isaac Russell making an early concession after a first vote put Jost in the lead.

"We're asking people to give up their time," Russell said in an interview. "So we thought it was best to just make the motion gracefully."

Russell said he plans to respect the party endorsement, leaving Jost with a seemingly clear path to the council.

Johnson's three opponents in the East Side's Seventh Ward took a different approach.

"In a ranked-choice system, people need choices," said Pa Der Vang, who will run against Johnson in November, despite losing the endorsement.

Kim ran unopposed in the Fifth Ward.