while contesting the party's nomination for a Minneapolis city council seat in one single ward of the city. It's very small potatoes and only got national attention because it was so unusual (and probably because the participants on both sides are Somali). It's a weird one-off that has no national implications that I can imagine.

that the people in the scuffle were Somali, maybe that's wrong. I still don't think it has national implications, though.

Neither do I, expect for people who already have opinions about Minneapolis and will see what they want to see in the reports and footage.

in a very small political contest, and people will make unreasonable assumptions about it. Some people got pissed off and overreacted, but the idea that this little local spat has national political implications for the Democratic party is absurd.

to abide by the endorsements.

"We the people" should choose the candidates, not party activists.

I was taken aback - naively - when the winners of the non-partisan elections for Hennepin county sheriff and attorney were so much ahead until I realized that the party endorsed them.

Someone commented that many thought that Dimick was a Republican because it was Moriarty who was endorsed by the party. Non partisan races should not get endorsement.

who waste time bickering over rules and insisting that their issue gets on the platform. I don't know exactly what led to the Ward 10 situation - I watched a video and I really couldn't tell what was going on - but the result was that the convention had to be adjourned without any endorsement. Maybe that was the intent all along. I've been to a few, found them to be pretty useless because, as usual, the loudest people took over.

in the last convention that I attended, some years back. Of course all replied in the affirmative and then I left, not bothering to stay and vote.

I am grateful to both Dayton and Walz who defied the party endorsement, took their message to the voters and won.

Put it differently, of course the party can endorse, but candidates should not have to promise to abide by them.

I couldn't stand it so quit going.

Some more

https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/mpls-dfl-convention-descends-into-chaos/89-a8b9b335-a02f-4c1d-859d-65af6ff3c90c

The DFL Party is clearly blaming it on "Warsame and his team ... escalating the situation and encouraging conflict":

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/minneapolis-ward-10-convention-fight-dfl/


Warsame is a refugee from Somalia. I hope this isn't friction between Somali and most of the rest of the DFL in that ward, but that's what it looks like to me. Something like this (but not with this level of violence) has occurred before in Minneapolis DFL politics but I can't find the story. Somalis got representation on the city council and want to maintain that and get more. Ditto the state legislature. (And Congress - Ilhan Omar CD5).

In Minnesota, DFL is and has long been THE Democratic party. It's not some radical offshoot of anything, and its political POSITIONS are quite mainstream Democratic by the standards of the rest of the country. It's a little more fractious internally, perhaps, than most.

Well this is an interesting Google search (but I haven't sorted it out yet):

https://www.google.com/search?q=somalis+on+minneapolis+city+council

And to add to the confusion, there's another Warsame that was recently on the city council - ABDI Warsame.

but not anymore.
https://www.minneapolismn.gov/government/city-council/

Here's a Somali-born person currently representing Minneapolis's 6th Ward (which includes Cedar - Riverside)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_Osman_(politician)

From the above link -- what happened to ABDI Warsame:


And unfortunately this, also too common in some segments of DFL politics:

This is the story I was trying to remember in my post #7.

The defeat of a veteran 44-year state legislator (since 1972!) by a Somali-born person was a big shock to the DFL-iverse. It marked the beginning of a new day for the very white Minnesota political establishment.

It's not. It's a conservative, business-backed candidate leveraging an already messy process to create chaos and deny the incumbent the endorsement with the least amount of effort.

I'd certainly very much rather it be about disagreement on real issues than about where people come from. I think there's a large element of both. I'm eager to learn more as time goes on.

In any case, it is deplorable what happened, no matter what the issue. Like many DFL voters, I do consider positively a DFL endorsement, although I don't slavishly vote that way for every candidate. I consider other things I know about the candidates as well. But it is information that I do consider.

Edited to addReading a comment upstream, I would consider negatively a candidate that agreed to abide by the endorsement and then didn't. I know it's somewhat out of fashion, but I consider a candidate's honesty to be important. Of course I would also look at the other candidates' honesty and positions on issues.

He doesn't sound that way https://nasriwarsame.com/

and I can't find much else about his background, positions or leanings. Thanks.

Huh.

so those of us who don't follow every ward's candidates might know a little more about this.

"business-backed" - which businesses? Should we start a boycott? Is he pro-business as well as "business-backed". Is the Ward 10 race a pro-business vs. pro-worker race? Is he for lower property taxes on businesses? Less regulations?

Similarly on what is "conservative" about him.

Yuh.

If you can't link to anything, then yes, it shouldn't be surprising that I'm having trouble finding much.

Of course I can dig some more and find some more that indicates he's "conservative, business-backed". I've obviously put in a lot of time on this thread and the LBN one, so I thought maybe some of my fellow progressives who claim to have more understanding and have some specifics about him being "conservative, pro-business" might help out a little bit.

If you have some specific knowledge (other than linkless assertions of opinion as fact), why can't you share that with people not in ward 10 and Twin Citieans and Minnesotans not in Minneapolis?

a pattern in a lot of races across the city that many Mpls DFlers are familiar with, where bad-faith candidates and their backers use the endorsement system to either hamstring a stronger candidate or get the endorsement themselves.

The problems of the endorsement process and its abuses by some candidates is not unique to Minneapolis, BTW.

Edited To Add I'm just wondering who is backing each of the candidates and why? I haven't seen anything in the reporting or my digging into it that its a pro-business conservative vs. progressive workers or anything like that. Like I say, I think from the video and my readings, there is an element of many Somali-origin seeking more representation in opposition to DFL establishment candidates. That's also an element of Minneapolis and state DFL politics whether we think its good or bad or wish to ignore it or not.

I'm asking WHY are the two sides so strongly opposed? I'm just not buying the implied framing that what is behind it is a dispute between conservative pro-business vs. progressive pro-worker or anything like that. I know that the endorsement process is obviously being abused. This isn't my first rodeo.

Oh, of course it's not. It's just that Minneapolis is such a big small town, the usual suspects tend to turn up again and again.

More like I just won't. And not because it's a bombshell, but because it's off-record discussions with people closer to the race than me, whose opinions I trust and whomst I'm not going to hang out to dry. It happens.

to each other, I am almost certain of that.

As I added to my #20 a moment before your reply (I'm sorry, but I thought it might help clarify)

It's less conservative pro-business vs progressive pro-worker and more centrist status quo vs people who are trying to change things. A lot of energy toward the latter got channeled and then diverted in 2020, and it's still all shaking out as each side pushes back.

but, from my #20 -- "there is an element of many Somali-origin seeking more representation in opposition to DFL establishment candidates. That's also an element of Minneapolis and state DFL politics whether we think its good or bad or wish to ignore it or not."

It's nice to wish that's not part of what went on in that room, and that it's merely a generalized centrist status quo vs people who are trying to change things, although that is much much closer to my framing. The ones who most strongly want to change things are the ones who feel, with justification, most under-represented.

Is this an issue, in your experience?

And from reading about similar situations over the years, particularly when it comports with human nature for people to vote for those more like themselves unless there is a particularly good reason not to. That's why I keep digging for an explanation of what is dividing the two sides. It's particularly odd to me that people on the side of changing things and against the status quo are the ones backing a conservative pro-business type, but I suppose it happens. Doubt it in this case. I can also look at a video and not kid myself by what I'm seeing.

Why is it important whether I experienced it personally?

It's my opinion. You have yours, I have mine. It happens.

and it was rare to even get an endorsement in the first Ward conventions I went to.

Last edited Sun May 14, 2023, 03:48 PM - Edit history (1)

(just including excerpts of new-to-this-thread material)

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/05/14/dfl-chair-promises-changes-after-minneapolis-convention-fight

The spelling is Aisha Chughtai with an "h" according to https://www.minneapolismn.gov/government/city-council/ and many more links. I see "Chugtai" twice in the excerpts above being incorrectly spelled without the "h".

edited to clarify who was quoted in a couple of cases

The past few endorsing conventions I went to were just ridiculous screaming matches.