Self-proclaimed socialist Omar Fateh secured the Minnesota Democratic Party’s endorsement for mayor of Minneapolis over incumbent Jacob Frey. Paired with Zohran Mamdani’s defeat of Andrew Cuomo in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary, the party apparently is increasingly embracing its furthest-left flank.

Fateh, the first Somali and Muslim to serve in the Minnesota Senate, announced he would challenge Frey in November 2024. He gained momentum in recent months and last week secured the support of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. “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 said. This was the first time in 16 years that the DFL had endorsed a candidate in the mayor’s race.

Frey, who was first elected mayor in 2017, believes the endorsement process is flawed and plans to appeal to the state party. Whether the endorsement is revoked or not, much of the damage is already done.

Frey is not without progressive credentials: He recently said the Minneapolis Police Department would not aid ICE, and he supports Minneapolis remaining a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants. His tenure also gained national attention in 2020, when he let Black Lives Matter rioters rampage through the streets of his city.

However, he has stood up to the even more progressive city council on numerous occasions, including vetoing a resolution to offer amnesty to University of Minnesota students who occupied a campus building during an anti-Israel protest. He also opposes rent control and defunding the police, consistently resisting pressure from the left to implement these policies.

Because Frey has often bucked the most extreme wing of his party, Fateh was able to ascend. If elected mayor, he has promised to raise the minimum wage to $20 per hour, pass a moratorium on new charter schools, and lobby the state legislature to allow Minneapolis to implement an income tax.

Fateh’s harmful policy proposals are a sign that the Democratic Party is still suffering from an identity crisis. As with Mamdani’s defeat of Cuomo in his primary, the Democratic establishment is unable or unwilling to combat the fringe of the far left. In the aftermath of 2024, Democrats seem unable to understand that they lost power because they were too liberal, not because they weren’t liberal enough.

For Democrats still wondering how Trump was able to win a second term, this is why. People like Jacob Frey, who appear at least somewhat interested in responsible governance, can never live up to the expectations of the progressives. This self-destructive behavior may not lead to electoral backlash in blue strongholds like Minneapolis, but if it is applied nationally, it will lead to continued losses.