Most Minneapolis City Council candidates seek the endorsement of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor, or DFL, party to drive voter support. This endorsement is determined through two steps: a caucus, in which residents elect delegates to represent their precinct, and a ward convention, where those delegates vote for candidates.
DFL caucuses are March 14
The DFL is holding remote caucuses for Wards 1-11. For these wards, residents can simply fill out an online form indicating whether they’d like to be a delegate, and submit it online or at a physical drop-off location. Wards 12 and 13 will have in-person caucuses. Remote caucuses are a recent development. The DFL first held remote caucuses in 2021, due to concerns about COVID-19. At these caucuses, delegates will be selected to go to the larger ward conventions in April and May. To participate in either kind of caucus, you need to:
If people in Wards 1 - 11 prefer to fill out a printed form, they must be dropped off in-person from 6:30 - 8 p.m. on March 14, otherwise the online form can be filled out before 8 p.m. on March 14. For in-person caucuses in Wards 12 and 13, registration starts at 6:30 p.m. and the caucus is called to order at 7 p.m.. The caucus usually takes an hour or two. People may also complete the non-attendee form if they cannot attend. Non-attendees will not be able to vote at the caucus, but can indicate whether they’d like to be a delegate.
Caucus and drop-off locations are available at the Minneapolis DFL website.
Afterwards, the DFL will host a convention for each ward later this spring. There, candidates will compete for 60 percent of the vote from delegates.
While the convention doesn’t eliminate any candidate from continuing to the General Election ballot, earning the endorsement of a political party can have a significant impact on the election. Endorsed candidates are able to utilize the party logo on their campaign materials and proudly announce the endorsement and may include access to other party resources, such as being included in campaign materials produced by the party.
The DFL party encourages candidates who don’t win the endorsement to drop out of the race and support the endorsed candidate. However, this is not required. Candidates in Minneapolis elections have historically been more likely to remain in the election, even if another candidate is endorsed, than in other elections, such as the state legislature. In 2021, the DFL endorsed candidates in seven out of thirteen council races, and six of those candidates won the general election.
The ward conventions are held on separate dates and locations throughout April and May. No more than two ward conventions are held on the same day. The ward conventions are spread out because of limited resources to support the conventions. For instance, skilled convention chairs are hired to run the convention, and they can’t be everywhere at once. The virtual ward conventions involve everything an in-person convention does but are held over Zoom. Wards 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11 are holding virtual conventions. Wards 1, 3, 4, 10, 12, and 13 are holding in-person conventions. Convention dates and locations are available at the Minneapolis DFL website.
For both virtual and in-person caucuses, the delegate selection process depends on the number of people who want to be delegates. Sometimes, there are fewer people who want to be delegates than there are delegate spots. In those cases, everyone who wants to be a delegate gets to be a delegate. This is the most common situation at a precinct caucus.
If the number of people who want to be a delegate is greater than the number of positions:
There are 400 delegates per ward convention, which is a large meeting of delegates from a particular City Council ward held for the purpose of endorsing a candidate for City Council. Precincts get allocated delegates based on a formula that is intended to estimate how many Democrats live in an area by using how many people voted for high-profile races like president, senator, and governor. Basically, the more populated, higher voter turnout,and more Democratic your area is, the more delegates you get. Minneapolis is a very Democrat-heavy city, so population and turnout are the main factors for how many voters each precinct gets.
There is also the option of being elected as an “alternate.” Alternates are “back-up” delegates in case some of the delegates don’t show up to the convention.
Delegates identify the candidate that they intend to support. While this is not binding, it is generally expected that the delegate supports that candidate at that time. Candidates seeking the endorsement in Southwest wards include:
Okay, this is where things start to get a bit complicated. The concept behind sub-caucusing is to try to get proportional representation for various candidates, rather than having a “winner take all” situation. It works like this.
Most ward conventions adopt either the Temporary or Proposed Permanent Rules in the Minneapolis call to convention (the official notice of the convention). There are two alternative procedures to use as a starting point, but conventions ultimately adopt their own rules, so your mileage may vary.
The first steps are the same no matter what rules are adopted:
The following steps are used in the “Multiple Ballot Endorsement Rules,” a process which involves multiple rounds of voting to try to reach an endorsement.
The following steps are used in the “Ranked Choice Voting Endorsement Rules.”
Candidates who are endorsed are then able to say they are “endorsed by the Minneapolis DFL” during their campaigning.
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