Just as I’d started to like her, Emily Koski decided not to run for re-election. (Well, she decided to run for mayor, then dropped out of the mayoral race but not back into the City Council race.) There are three people running for the Ward 11 seat. On the ballot:

Mariam DeMello (DFL)
Jamison Whiting (DFL-endorsed)
Jim Meyer (Budgetary Economic Stability)

Mariam DeMello (DFL)

Mariam DeMello promised to drop out if someone else was endorsed, and announced at the convention that she was dropping out and endorsing Jamison Whiting, and then got back in. I don’t usually bring this up, but in Mariam’s case, I would kind of like to know what it is she thinks Whiting is going to do that she doesn’t like, or fail to do that she wants. I wrote to her and asked and didn’t get a response, and I watched the forum hoping for more enlightenment on this topic and came away disappointed. She currently serves on the Charter Commission and talked some about the dysfunction of city government (by which she seems to mean “there are people to the left of the mayor on the City Council,” she specifically blamed the DSA when asked about homeless encampments. Which, let’s be honest about this fact: no one in the DSA likes encampments and everyone in the DSA is advocating for the “dignified housing” she says she wants instead.) Anyway, I think she thinks she’d be better on public safety but I’m not sure. She is endorsed by fake Democrat and absolute weirdo Mickey Moore. (Link leads to my writeup of the Ward 9 race from 2023, when he ran.)

ETA: She wrote back on October 15th. (I’m just now updating this because I was in China at that point, and super busy.) She said my message went to spam and said, “You’re right — I initially paused my campaign after the DFL convention, but after hearing from so many neighbors, I felt Ward 11 needed a truly independent, moderate voice in this race.”

The ways in which she says she differs from Jamison: (1) she’s “realistic” about how the City Council can affect the schools (“The Council doesn’t oversee the Minneapolis School Board, but we can help keep kids engaged outside of school through mentorship, youth programming, and safe community spaces” — Jamison advocates for those things but also talks about having the city expand funding for counselors, nurses, and mental health support in the public schools); (2) “I believe in increasing the supply of affordable housing, but also in ensuring a healthy mix of housing types — including cooperatives, starter homes, and multi-family options” — Jamison’s housing policy also talks about a mix of market-rate, affordable, and deeply affordable housing so I don’t know what she’s talking about here; (3) “On policing, I believe the consent decree is just the starting point” — I cannot believe she’s seriously proposing herself as an improvement over Jamison on this one, given his background and experience in police reform, which definitely does not treat the consent decree as the end point; (4) she wants a multi-unit housing complex on the Speedway site at George Floyd Square, while apparently Jamison wants a community center.

Jim Meyer (Budgetary Economic Stability)

Jim Meyer sent me an e-mail last month making a case for himself that included the amusing and honestly kind of accurate line, “I don’t know if I am exactly your cup of tea, but Ward 11 doesn’t produce too many Our Revolutionaries.” I mean, yeah, this is valid. Jim is a former journalist turned LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse) and running as a budget hawk. Unlike a lot of fringe candidates Jim has some actual civic service experience; he serves on the Minneapolis Advisory Committee on Aging. This makes sense (he worked at a nursing home) but he also served on the city’s Racial Equity Advisory in 2018; this makes less sense to me (he’s a white guy). Anyway, if what you want is a budget hawk, he might be your pick; he at least has a little political experience and is not coming at this 100% from a “how hard could politics possibly be? I’ll just do what The People want!” perspective. ETA: He’s an ICE apologist whose response to “should MPD assist with crowd control at operations were ICE is present” was “Of course!” Don’t vote for Jim.

Jamison Whiting (DFL-endorsed)

Jamison Whiting is a lawyer who works in the City Attorney’s office on the Police Reform Implementation team. In his bio he mentions that his father was imprisoned after a false conviction, which sounds like an interesting story but I wasn’t able to find the details. He’s kind of the “unity candidate” — his endorsements skew right but the progressives seem to like him OK, in that the Love/Thrive/All of Mpls crowd has endorsed him and the left wing thinks he’s about as good as we’re likely to get from that part of town.

I listened to his WedgeLive interview (you can watch it here, or listen to it as a podcast on your favorite podcast app) and he struck me as experienced in some things I care about (he’s worked directly on police reform) and as someone who genuinely wants to be a unifying figure. (This response at the forum was particularly striking, actually. The question: “How will you work with fellow council members to address encampments and support residents facing housing instability, displacement, or homelessness?” He said that housing was a human right and then spent most of his minute leaning into to the “how will you work with fellow council members” part and talked about building relationships. “I know every single one of our council members extremely well…we are a city full of Democrats, but we are unable to get together and move this in the right direction.”)

I would vote for Jamison Whiting if I lived in Ward 11, and then cross my fingers and hope for the best.

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I have a new book coming out next June! This one is not YA; it’s a near-future thriller about an obstetrician who gets kidnapped by a cult because they want someone on site to deliver babies. You can pre-order it right now if you want.

I do not have a Patreon or Ko-Fi but instead encourage people who want to reward all my hard work to donate to fundraisers. This year I’m fundraising for YouthLink. YouthLink is a Minneapolis nonprofit that helps youth (ages 16-24) who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. (Here’s their website.) I have seen some of the work they do and been really impressed. (An early donor to the fundraiser added a comment: “YouthLink was incredible instrumental in my assistance of a friend to escape a bad family situation in Florida with little more than a computer and a state ID. Thanks to YouthLink and their knowledge of resources my friend was able to get a mailing address (which was essential in getting a debit card and formal identification documents), healthcare, hot meals, an internship at a local company, and even furniture for their new apartment.” — That is exactly the sort of thing I’m talking about!)