Minneapolis DFL Turmoil

This story was published in mid-May in a local newspaper and the Twin Cities DSA newsletter. Warsame’s ban on being endorsed by the DFL (Democratic Farmer-Labor, the Minnesota version of the Democratic Party) went on to be confirmed by the party’s central committee. Aisha Chughtai won re-election on November 7. The controversial “third amendment” to the DFL bylaws was quietly dropped when the party leadership realized that it would cripple the very activism that had led to a state “trifecta” of DFL power, because basically some of the most effective organizers of endorsing conventions are also democratic socialists!

On Saturday, May 13, the Minneapolis DFL held their Ward 10 endorsing convention. Like the Ward 12 convention two weeks earlier, this convention was held “in person.” There were only two candidates. One was Council Member Aisha Chughtai, who has been endorsed by Twin Cities DSA, (along with four others for Minneapolis City Council seats as well as two for Saint Paul City Council). Chughtai was elected in 2021, and has been endorsed for re-election by numerous other organizations and elected officials. The other candidate was former MPD Community Safety Officer Nasri Warsame, a relative newcomer to the local electoral scene.

The convention was chaotic almost from the start. There were translation issues, with a lot of Warsame’s delegates being Somali elders and not…