Doing this one next because it turns out to be a very easy one. There are three people on the ballot:
Steffanie Musich
Charles Rodgers
Justin Cermak
tl;dr Steffanie Musich is the easy choice here.
When I wrote about this race four years ago the Hiawatha Golf Course was a central issue. I had really expected that issue to be resolved by now — but of course it isn’t.
I will lay my cards on the table about that golf course: it’s not functional in its current arrangement, and everyone knows it. But the Park Board failed to pass the compromise plan, basically passing the buck to the next Park Board.
Anyway, this election is Steffanie Musich vs. still more golf people. Charles Rodgers is remarkably quiet about golf on his website but was a lot more honest with obsessive golf person Ed Felien. Justin Cermak has a largely content-free Instagram page for his website, but does promise to make saving the golf course one of his priorities in one of his only posts with a stance on a Park Board related issue.
Steffanie Musich gets my endorsement! Were I still living in District 5, I would absolutely vote for her this year.
Did you know that I had a book released this April? Chaos on CatNet is a sequel to Catfishing on CatNet and takes place in a future Minneapolis. Signed copies are usually available from Dreamhaven and from the current mail-order-only incarnation of Uncle Hugo’s. Books make great holiday gifts, but should be ordered early this year — Tubby & Coo’s bookstore explains why.
I do not have a Patreon or Ko-Fi, but you can make a donation to encourage my work! My readers have now bought a refrigerator for the school nurse at Olson Middle School, and outfitted some 8th grade Algebra students with binders to stay organized. Here are some other worthwhile fundraisers for high-poverty Minneapolis and Saint Paul schools:
An art teacher at Andersen United middle school is starting a ceramics program and needs a pug mill to recycle dried out clay back into usable clay. (Over time, they’ll save a lot of money on clay if they have this!)
A Technology teacher at Humboldt High School in St. Paul would love to have a 3D printer for his students, who learn to design things in their classes and with this printer will be able to create actual prototypes.
Will Tell Stories For Food 
Really disappointed we couldn’t get a sane challenger to Steffanie. She’s not serving the District well but she’s better than the unhinged two. Oof.
Is there any reason to rank one of the challengers above the other?
I would rank Steffanie and not the other two.
If you hate Steffanie and love golf courses, I think Charles Rodgers is more of a contender than the Instagram guy.
Scott, you don’t have to fill in 3 bubbles. If you actively dislike so many candidates that you don’t have 3 you like, filling in fewer than 3 bubbles (in this case 1) is the right thing to do.
It keeps your “2nd-choice” & “3rd-choice” votes from adding to the other twos’ total popularity, whereas your “1st-choice” vote stacks up on top of all the other “2” & “3” votes the person you like gets.
IRV is awesome and you should 100% take advantage of if when you’re actually anywhere to “meh” about seeing any of 3 or more candidates take office!
But don’t fill in all of your alloted bubbles if you’re not.