Minneapolis, Minn.’s mayoral election on Nov. 2 remained uncalled as of 1 p.m. ET on Nov. 3. The city used ranked choice voting. Voters could rank up to three candidates on their ballot. Initial election results showing voters’ first-choice candidates were available.
- Incumbent Jacob Frey received 43% of first-choice votes
- Sheila Nezhad had 21%
- Katherine Knuth had 18%
Initial results also showed who voters selected as their second and third choices.
- Frey was the second choice on 12% of ballots and third choice on 15%
- Nezhad was the second choice on 20% and third on 11%
- Knuth was second on 32% and third on 11%
Seventeen candidates ran in the election.
In ranked-choice voting, a candidate is declared the winner if he or she wins a majority of first-preference votes. In Minneapolis, if no candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, either the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes or a group of candidates with no mathematical chance of winning are eliminated. First-preference votes cast for those candidates are eliminated, lifting the second-preference choices indicated on those ballots. A new tally is conducted to determine whether any candidate has won a majority of the adjusted votes. The process is repeated until a candidate wins an outright majority.
Elections in Minneapolis are officially nonpartisan, but the Minneapolis City Charter allows mayoral and city council candidates to choose a party label to appear below their name on the official ballot. The three candidates leading in initial results all identify as Democrats. Overall, eight candidates identified as Democrats and two identified as Republicans. The remaining seven candidates identified with a mixture of minor parties or identified as independents.
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