A Somali American democratic socialist is on the verge of becoming the next mayor of deep blue Minneapolis, he has radical goals for the city, including making it the “last line of defense” against Donald Trump and a “safe haven” for transgender surgeries.
The Minnesota state senator, 35, is running on an uber-progressive platform that includes cracking down on the police, getting “economic justice” for LGBT and minorities, and keeping Minneapolis a sanctuary for not just illegal migrants but also for abortions and transgender drugs and surgeries, all while spending lots of taxpayer dollars.
Fateh’s campaign platform states that, “with Donald Trump back in the Oval Office, the progress towards equity and justice that our communities have worked so hard to create is in jeopardy. Mayor Frey has said that our approach to fighting Trump is extreme — he’s wrong.”
Fateh wants to “prioritize” and “fully fund” the city’s Trans Equity Summit and make Minneapolis a “safe haven” for abortions and transgender drugs and surgeries, saying that, “essential healthcare services like these are under attack from the Federal government.”
He is not a fan of the police.
Fateh campaigned for his state senate seat during the summer of 2020, the same time the deadly George Floyd riots erupted in Minneapolis, killing several people and destroying more than $350 million in property across the city.
His campaign headquarters for that race was located in an adult day care run by the Somali community on a street that saw some of the worst of the riots.
Five years later, George Floyd is still on Fateh’s mind.
He wants to “end the cycle of the Minneapolis Police Department’s violence and brutality that has held our city captive for so many years,” his platform states.
That includes sending “non-police responders” to nearly half of 911 calls and increasing oversight of the police department, including investing in a “Civil Rights Department.”
Fateh also says he would ban Minneapolis police from working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest and deport illegal migrants.
He called a June federal drug raid in south Minneapolis “blatant fascism.”
“Whether it’s for an immigration raid or not, our residents deserve a mayor that will stand up to Donald Trump and say, ‘no, not in our community,'” Fateh said.
Fateh also wants to freeze rents and increase affordable housing to the maximum allowed by federal law. He previously said he is “a renter myself, someone that’s been unemployed before.”
He wants to spend more money on housing for “LGBTQ+ and BIPOC people,” who he says are “some of the highest at risk for losing their housing, being over-criminalized by [Minneapolis police], and being harassed by their employer.”
Fateh also wants to raise the city’s minimum wage from just under $16 to $20 by 2028.
To pay for all this, he wants to start a city income tax “to ensure the wealthy pay their fair share.”
During his state senate race, Fateh campaigned on a slew of progressive priorities — drug decriminalization, universal health care, climate justice, free higher education, free child care, free public transit, a right to housing, and stopping what he called “exclusionary zoning,” similar to redlining.
He picked up endorsements at the time from the local chapters of Black Lives Matter and the Democratic Socialists of America as well as the Sunrise Movement, a climate change group that pushes the Green New Deal.
Also during that campaign, Fateh referred to Somalia as “home.”
“I understand that our Somali communities are all connected to each other here in Minnesota and back home, and I ask for your support,” Fateh said during remarks at an event in the local Somali community. “There’s always been a link between our community here as well as back home and I’m running to bridge that gap and unite all of us and represent all of us because when we succeed here, we succeed everywhere.”
Minneapolis mayoral candidate Omar Fateh calls Somalia "our home" even though he is born and raised here pic.twitter.com/2ins5rUz3Q
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 14, 2025
After just one year in office, Fateh found himself in a political scandal over his close ties to the local Somali community.
In 2022, Fateh faced a Senate ethics investigation into accusations that he proposed legislation to give half a million dollars in taxpayer dollars to a Somali news outlet that endorsed him.
He also faced an ethics complaint in 2023 after he said on the state senate floor that domestic terrorists often look like his white senate colleagues.
Flashback to when Sen. Omar Fateh claimed the real terrorists looked like his white Republican colleagues on the Minnesota Senate floor.
An ethics complaint was later filed against him for violating the Senate’s code of conduct. pic.twitter.com/Nm2JD8KqJg
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) July 16, 2025
He has frequently advocated for the local Somali community during both his campaigns.
“From East African immigrants in the ’60s till now, not much seems to have changed,” he told The Nation during his state senate campaign. “If the corporations are going to be able to take advantage of you, they’re going to. They’re going to exploit you; they’re going to pay you less; they’re going to do whatever they can to maximize their profits — especially folks that are not very well versed on what their rights are.”
Before ousting a ten-year incumbent Democrat state senator, Fateh was a community organizer.
Now, he represents some of southern Minneapolis’ poorest neighborhoods and is the first Muslim and first Somali American to serve in the Minnesota Senate.
Fateh was born and raised in Washington, D.C. by immigrant parents from Somalia and attended George Mason University before moving to Minneapolis.
He is the second self-described democratic socialist to rocket toward the top of a major city’s mayoral race after Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City last month.
Last Saturday, Omar Fateh was endorsed for Minneapolis mayor by the city’s local Democratic Party at their convention in a shocking upset for current mayor Jacob Frey, also a Democrat.
“This endorsement is a message that Minneapolis residents are done with broken promises, vetoes, and politics as usual. It’s a mandate to build a city that works for all of us,” Fateh posted on X.
I am incredibly honored to be the DFL endorsed candidate for Minneapolis Mayor. This endorsement is a message that Minneapolis residents are done with broken promises, vetoes, and politics as usual. It’s a mandate to build a city that works for all of us. https://t.co/rU6v90TJPp pic.twitter.com/9KX3jSMvcP
— Omar Fateh (@OmarFatehMN) July 20, 2025
Frey quickly filed a formal challenge to Fateh’s surprise endorsement by the city’s Democratic Party.
The incumbent mayor oversaw Minneapolis during the George Floyd riots.
Frey knelt and wept at Floyd’s golden casket during his funeral, but he also clashed with Black Lives Matter protesters on abolishing the police department and at one point was shouted out of a protest by a volatile crowd.
If the Minneapolis mayoral election goes the way New York City’s is right now, Frey could be facing an uphill battle.
New York’s current mayor Eric Adams is trailing in the polls behind Mamdani, who is running on a progressive platform that overlaps with Fateh’s.
Mamdani is campaigning on government-run grocery stores, free buses, free childcare, a rent freeze for more than two million New Yorkers living in rent-subsidized housing, and deploying mental health professionals rather than police in crises. He also wants to raise both income and corporate taxes.
Both Minneapolis and New York City will hold their mayoral elections on November 4.
So far, the two democratic socialists have the advantage.