Election 2021: Minneapolis City Council, Ward 5

Jeremiah Ellison is the incumbent, but almost lost to Victor Martinez at the endorsing convention. He beat previous incumbent Blong Yang for the seat in 2017; the Council Rep before Blong Yang was Don Samuels.

On the ballot this year:

Jeremiah Ellison (DFL, incumbent)
Victor Martinez (claims to be DFL)
Cathy Spann (DFL)
Kristel Porter (DFL)
Elijah Norris-Holliday (Independent)
Suleiman Isse (DFL)
James “Jim” Seymour (Witness)

tl;dr vote for Jeremiah Ellison, even if you’re annoyed with something he’s done.

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Election 2019: St. Paul School Board

It’s election season! But only in St. Paul — Minneapolis is not voting on anything. Here in St. Paul, we’ve got the following:

  • Saint Paul School Board (vote for 4)
  • Saint Paul City Council
  • Garbage pickup referendum

This means {heavy sigh} that I’m going to have to actually write about the trash pickup issue. Spoiler: I come from Minneapolis, always thought it was ridiculous that St. Paul didn’t have municipal pickup, and have minimal amounts of sympathy for people who don’t think they should have to pay for a municipal service just because they use less of it; that way lies “why should I pay for libraries when I don’t read.”

Anyway, I do feel like I need some information that I still need to research before I can do a truly comprehensive write-up on that one, so in the meantime, I’ll take a whack at the school board race. Here’s who’s running:

Charlie Castro
Omar Syed
Jennifer McPherson
Elijah Norris-Holliday
Jessica Kopp
Tiffany Fearing
Steve Marchese
Zuki Ellis
Ryan Williams
Chauntyll Allen

You get to vote for four. This vote is not ranked. It’s a non-partisan race, but the DFL City Convention endorsed three candidates (Zuki, Steve, and Chauntyll) and then couldn’t settle on a fourth.

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