David Brauer
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David Brauer
@dbrauer.net
9.4K followers 1.2K following 18K posts
Former journalist, long-time Minneapolitan, curator of Uptown’s borders and chief rememberer, Halloween Blizzard of 1991. Posts too much about Minneapolis politics and knows it, but old professional habits die hard.
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dbrauer.net
Anyway, NEVER FORGET:
Tweet from Last doll on the left @CrisSelup • We would do better with lifelong Minneapolitan, Josh Bassais. Soren is a hipster from Portland. JOSH BASSAIS WARD 8 CITY COUNCIL BUILDING A THRIVING MINNEAPOLIS TOGETHER Home | JoshBassaisforWard8 From joshbforward8.org ...
November 16, 2025 at 2:21 PM
dbrauer.net
I saw the little dude do his motorcycle scene about a block from here 42 years ago
Purple rain logo on State theater stage curtain.
November 15, 2025 at 1:23 AM
dbrauer.net
After @maggiek.bsky.social brought it up this morning, I biked to the Lyn Park neighborhood, one of the few I’ve never visited in 46 years here. It truly is a suburb in the city: big 1977-79 push to make home-owning more achievable for the black community. Promptly got my first flat of 2025 there!
Neighborhood bordered by 18th, I-94 & Lyndale Ave over north.
November 14, 2025 at 9:55 PM
dbrauer.net
Then there’s Don Samuels’ Hillside gridbreaker, also home to @snipy.bsky.social i think?
The Hillside Ave district of North Minneapolis, which breaks the street grid just north of Broadway Avenue and west of Girard Avenue.
November 14, 2025 at 2:15 PM
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What New York Times calls “a light resume” for Seattle’s new progressive mayor turns out to be leading successful campaigns that expanded mass transit & housing & helped the city balance its budget. What a lightweight! www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...
Headline: The New Hork Cimes Account v Seattle Elects a Left- Wing Mayor With a Light Résumé but Mamdani Appeal Katie Wilson, who narrowly defeated the incumbent, Bruce Harrell, emerged from the city's left-wing activist class and brings with her little experience in governing Body copy: Ms. Wilson had never run for public office before, but she had led a series of campaigns over the past decade to expand access to mass transit, raise local minimum wages and add protections for renters — often through some form of taxing the rich. Body copy: As co-founder of the Transit Riders Union, an advocacy group, Ms. Wilson built a network of fellow organizers and won a string of campaigns to expand access to public services and fight the growing gap between the ultra rich and everyone else in the Seattle region. Ms. Wilson played a key role in convincing the Seattle City Council to create what's known as the "JumpStart Tax," a levy of 0.75 percent to 2.5 percent on the salaries of the highest-paid employees at about 500 of the city's largest businesses. Revenue from the tax is supposed to fund affordable housing, small-business support and climate-change programs, though in recent years, the city has also used it to help balance its general fund
November 13, 2025 at 10:33 PM
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Final blue shingles being put on the Lake Harriet Bandshell outbuildings
A pavilion by a lake with a mechanical loader in front & no shingles on the roof.
November 13, 2025 at 8:40 PM
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Deleted the post about Minneapolis voting at 2x Seattle’s rate because Bloomberg only counted the leader’s total. If you go by that, Jacob Frey got fewer than 80,000 votes in a 3+ million vote region! A dumb way to formulate it! Seattle mayor will get more votes per capita than Mamdani!
With a population of roughly 800,000, Seattle is a relatively small part of the larger Puget Sound region, which has about 4.5 million people and includes the headquarters of Microsoft Corp. and Costco Wholesale Corp., plus major Boeing Co. factories. In contrast to New York City, where more than 1 million people cast ballots for Mamdani, Seattle's next mayor will have been chosen by fewer than 150,000 voters.
November 12, 2025 at 4:05 PM
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This is DUE SOUTH
November 12, 2025 at 3:18 AM
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Honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen red pillars this massive (10-second exposure but naked-eye visible)
November 12, 2025 at 2:40 AM
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Honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen red pillars this massive (10-second exposure but naked-eye visible)
November 12, 2025 at 2:39 AM
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2/ 53 precincts weren’t redistricted 2021 to 2025; in 47, there was no change in the winner. (This assumes a precinct won by Kate Knuth in 2021 and Fateh in 2025 isn’t a flip). Only 1 flipped to Frey: South Kingfield 8-4 went from 51% Knuth to 53% Frey. 5 flipped to Fateh: 6-3, 6-6, 6-9, 8-1 & 9-3.
Minneapolis Ward map
November 10, 2025 at 8:16 PM
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Final-round Mpls mayor ballots in. Short 🧵:
- Frey won 7 wards, Fateh 6
- Frey won the 5 votingest wards (excluding exhausted ballots) … over *60%* in each. Fateh won next 5 but basically didn’t matter at that point.
- All wards redistricted since ‘21. Still, Ward 6 went from 64% Frey to 72% Fateh!
Ward Frey Fateh Frey % Winner Vote total 13 12,400 3,636 77% Frey 16,036 12 8,658 7,228 55% Frey 15,886 11 8,752 4,470 66% Frey 13,222 3 7,869 5,312 60% Frey 13,181 7 8,097 4,603 64% Frey 12,700 1 5,872 6,378 48% Fateh 12,250 8 5,128 6,384 45% Fateh 11,512 10 3,580 7,297 33% Fateh 10,877 9 2,623 5,231 33% Fateh 7,854 6 2,082 5,397 28% Fateh 7,479 2 2,312 4,321 35% Fateh 6,633 4 3,676 2,674 58% Frey 6,350 5 2,674 2,446 52% Frey 5,120 73,723 65,377 653% 0 139,100 Actual by Vote total Minneapolis Ward map
November 10, 2025 at 8:10 PM
dbrauer.net
Built a formula off 1st choices to predict how Mpls wards will ultimately vote for mayor. Too many unknowns, so wonk amusement only:
Frey: 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 13
Fateh: 1, 2, 6, 8, 9, 10
Closest: north side W5 (52% Frey)
Progressive ward bummer: W12 (55% Frey)
North Korea number: W13 (74% Frey)
Minneapolis Ward map
November 10, 2025 at 5:36 AM
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I realize I brought this up, but for those just tuning in: we have a list of folks permitted in the voting area. Campaign managers are not on it (see below). Scott came on pretty strong & I had to react to that because he was right in the doorway where voters exited.
From the Minneapolis elections manual: Visitors, challengers, buffer zone, and campaign materials Authorized visitors There is a small list of authorized visitors apart from voters who can be in the polling place. • Someone assisting a voter Children accompanying their parents Someone vouching for a voter Observers with written authorization from the state, county, or municipal UPDATED! election office. Common visitors in this category may include trained volunteers checking the accessibility of polling places, U.S. Department of Justice observers, and international election officials here to learn how we run elections. Challengers Must be appointed in writing by a party or nonpartisan candidate. See below for more. • Media Can observe the voting process. See following section. • Exit pollsters Exit pollsters can be in the buffer zone or the building, but not in the voting room. See below for rules. Someone making a written complaint See page 121. Police officers (if requested by election judges to keep order)
November 9, 2025 at 3:30 PM
dbrauer.net
Zohran sign generator that says “LEFTIES for Minneapolis, despite it all”
November 9, 2025 at 4:00 AM
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an album cover with a motor vehicle on it
Neko Case Middle Cyclone
November 9, 2025 at 1:18 AM
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6/ Another falling Ward was 13, where CM Palmisano had no real rival. Precinct 13-5 fell a tentative 7%. (Again: we only have a sampling of 1/3 of precincts that weren’t redistricted.) 11-5 was off 8%; 6-4 was off 12.5%. Always important to think about how Council races can affect mayoral turnout!
November 7, 2025 at 2:51 PM
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5/ So which areas fell? High turnout wards with no council contest (or a walkover) and low turnout wards with same. LaTrisha Vetaw’s ward 4 had the biggest drops (5-10% preliminarily, though it will probably be less when actual turnout is released). Precincts 1, 2, 5, 7, 8 all on this basket.
2025 Minneapolis Ward map
November 7, 2025 at 2:49 PM
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4/ In hot-race Ward 7, Bryn Mawr (7-1) was up at least 12% as was 10-4 (northern South Uptown). W7 losing incumbent @katiecashman.bsky.social grew her 2023 7-1 margin, while winning incumbent @aishaforward10.com saw her 10-4 margin drop. Precincts 1-2 (Payne) & 12-9 (Chowdhury) also saw 10%+ gains.
2025 Minneapolis Ward map
November 7, 2025 at 2:46 PM
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3/ Other big jumps were in @sorenwithward8.bsky.social’s Ward 8 … 8-1 was up at least 14% (Horn Towers, a lot of Somali-Minnesotans live there, Omar Fateh’s campaign likely helped, although 6-3, Cedar-Riverside, was only up at least 1.5%.) Soren won the precinct by 50 after losing it by 90 in 2023.
November 7, 2025 at 2:39 PM
dbrauer.net
2/ The tl;dr is, it’s good to have a hot Council race AND a good organizer Council Member. The 3 biggest surges were in @robin4mpls.bsky.social’s 2nd Ward: precincts 1/2/4 (Marcy/East Bank/Dinkytown) up 25%+. 2021 was a COVID year … but 300+ added votes went strongly to Robin. (Map below for ref.)
Minneapolis 2025 precinct map
November 7, 2025 at 2:34 PM
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I don’t want to memory-hole Betsy Hodges’ 2013 win. It definitely wasn’t DSA but it was last successful center-left alliance. Folks should re-read this September Racket piece, where she describes the alliance but — I know this will chafe — the need to appeal to SW. racketmn.com/minneapolis-...
Hodges: The activist left didn't like R.T. They had not liked R.T., but they had not been able to beat him in three election cycles. There was a whole bunch of stuff that they wanted but they weren't getting. And they couldn't win citywide. And then here I come with a very progressive message, talking very openly about the issues they cared about, particularly racial equity, and they threw their lot in with mine. That was one of the key things that happened in 2013, and I would not have won without them. All credit goes to the organizing done by these activist left organizations that were willing to band together with each other, but also to support me. Hodges: The average call on the Hodges campaign in 2013 was nine minutes long. That is outrageously long. And we had tens of thousands of those conversations. That's what my campaign was, all based on this message [of belonging and racial equity]. And the activist left was a huge part of that. They brought volunteers, they brought resources, people doorknocked, they did all the stuff. And then we won. Hodges: I think the lesson that the old guard learned from 2013 was they needed to be more organized, they needed to have a stronger message-they generally choose the message of fear-and that they needed to pour a lot of money into the mayor's race in order to win. Those were the lessons they learned, and that has been their gameplan ever since, in 2017, in 2021, and, I assume, in 2025. I think the conclusion [the activist left] drew was, "We have cracked the code. We know how to win citywide. If we come together and we organize in this way, we're the ones who did it. Betsy Hodges won because of us." And it is true that they were necessary, but they were not sufficient. Because what I brought to the table was years and years and years of loving and building relationships with and leading white people in southwest Minneapolis in a way that meant they would follow me. In Minneapolis, if you do not have a message and if you do not have a relationship with the white voters of southwest Minneapolis, you just don't win citywide.
November 6, 2025 at 4:31 PM
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I am never not gonna be mad about the Minneapolis public not connecting Frey to complete control of MPD operations for the past 8 years. www.startribune.com/election-day...
Quote from story: “A lot of voters who ranked Frey as their first choice mentioned that he was the most moderate candidate and their top priority was public safety. Some have been shaken by bubbling neighborhood crime, including car windows being smashed. They were choosing experience and stability.“
November 6, 2025 at 4:00 PM
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2/ @alexschief.bsky.social works for Mpls Public Works on biking; he’s a great presence here. WITHIN A WEEK Alex had gotten workers to take rocks out of the curb-protected bumpout, fill it with asphalt and create a ramp from curb to street whole painting lines making it clearer where cars go.
Bumpout on south side of 29th Street (Cecil Newman Parkway) which once had rocks and curbs which dead-ended a bike lane & forced bikers into oncoming traffic (left of frame), now filled with asphalt and an asphalt ramp from curb to street level. New yellow paint more clearly shows bike lane and car traffic lane with painted zone between them.
November 6, 2025 at 3:35 PM
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NEAT BIKE STORY. Great new bike lane on 1st between Franklin/Lake had big prob: 2-way 29th St connection to parallel protected Blaisdell lane blocked by a bumpout — forcing eastbound bikers turning north to 1st into oncoming traffic using 29th to get to Nicollet. So I DMd @alexschief.bsky.social …
Bikers (green arrow going east) forced by bumpout (red X) at 1st Avenue & 29th) into oncoming traffic (yellow arrow) turning onto 29th off 1st to get to Nicollet
November 6, 2025 at 3:28 PM