Omar Fateh shouldn’t be mayor of Minneapolis — not because of his ethnicity — but because of his royally bad ideas.

Minneapolis has a new candidate for mayor. Meet Omar Fateh, a Democratic state senator who, much like NYC’s Zohran Mamdani, thinks real socialism has never been tried. Fateh, the son of Somali immigrants to the U.S., is also Muslim.

Both detractors and supporters have focused far too much on this aspect of Fateh’s identity, veiling what actually matters: that Fateh has hare-brained ideas about how to govern well.

Charlie Kirk, the right-wing pundit who founded Turning Point USA, made a controversial statement regarding Fateh’s candidacy. He connected Fateh’s run to a broader conspiracy about Muslims in government roles:

Muslims are commanded to take over the government in the land they live. The attempted Islamic takeover of America is made possible thanks to mass migration.

Liberals were eager to condemn this “disgusting, bigoted fearmongering” launched at Fateh. Jacob Frey, the current mayor of Minneapolis — and Fateh’s main competition — jumped in to prove his progressive bona fides. In a recent post on X, he wrote:

Senator Omar Fateh is a proud American who is running because, like me, he loves Minneapolis. I’m proud that Minneapolis is a place where he can run for mayor against me on his own merits — and that this kind of bigotry is widely rejected across our great city.

DeWayne Davis, a congregationalist minister and progressive activist who has also joined the Minneapolis mayoral race, posted:

Sen. Fateh, I’m so sorry you had to deal with this man’s hate today. I know how much you love this city, and I’m honored to be in the race with you. Minneapolis is made stronger and more vibrant because of our immigrant communities, and we’re lucky to have your leadership.

While Charlie Kirk’s accusation portrays extreme, conspiratorial thinking, Fateh himself has said he hopes to serve his “home” — not America, but Somalia.

During his state Senate campaign, Fateh regularly spoke to the Somali community specifically, referring to Somalia as their “home.” He said,

I understand that our Somali communities are all connected to each other, here in Minnesota and back home, and I ask for your support. 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. And I’m hoping to do that. . . . Inshallah.

Fateh has a history of seeking to advance the interests of illegal immigrants above and against the interests of the state as a whole. (Somali immigrants make up the second largest immigrant community in the state.) In his mayoral campaign, Fateh made protecting the “undocumented” community a top priority.

One of Fateh’s three core campaign platforms is “Protect our City from a hostile White House.” As he explains in a campaign video posted to X,

Protecting all of our communities from Donald Trump means not letting MPD interact with ICE, 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.”

In his “Vision for Minneapolis,” Fateh vows to “work with immigrant rights organizations and support initiatives aimed at achieving full equality for immigrant residents, including right to legal counsel, support for undocumented students and families in public schools, and establishing clear consequences for Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) officers who violate the city’s separation ordinance.”

As the Democratic state senate higher education chair, Fateh led the charge to provide free college tuition to noncitizens in Minnesota. In 2023, Fateh introduced legislation in the state senate to increase higher education spending by hundreds of millions of dollars. The “North Star Promise” program, which passed later that year, provides free college tuition to households earning under $80,000 a year — regardless of their documentation status.

When Representative Lauren Boebert (R., Colo.) expressed dismay that “illegal aliens will now be eligible for free college tuition in the state of Minnesota,” Fateh responded:

You’re damn right . . . and not “illegal aliens” but our neighbors. When you’re not a white supremacist, you can see people for their humanity and not status. It is our duty to serve the needs of ALL Minnesotans.

Trump’s DOJ has already filed a lawsuit against the state to challenge the eligibility of illegal immigrants to receive benefits from the taxpayer-funded program.

Beyond his pro-illegal-immigration policies, Fateh wants to raise the minimum wage by 25 percent, freeze rent, and send social workers with clipboards to answer 911 calls instead of cops. Additionally, Fateh has called for “prioritizing environmental justice.” This includes implementing carbon fees across the city, spending millions to transition of the city’s vehicle fleet to electric vehicles, and supporting “large-scale environmental-justice initiatives that will restore city cohesion and empower minority communities.”

Fateh has also demanded that more taxpayer dollars be spent to “ensure that events like the Trans Equity Summit are fully funded and prioritized” and to “increase funding to services that support housing, safety, and economic justice as LGBTQ+ and BIPOC people are some of the highest at risk for losing their housing, being over-criminalized by MPD, and being harassed by their employer.” He also wants Minneapolis to remain a “safe-haven for people seeking abortions and gender-affirming healthcare.”

So, no, I don’t think Fateh should become mayor of Minneapolis. Not because he is Muslim, but because he is the purveyor of royally bad ideas.