Everyone in Minneapolis will have this race on their ballot, and it’s a bit of a doozy in terms of “complicated history” and “lots of candidates,” so buckle up. I am posting this with my current choice of candidates, then come back and edit in late October, based on the vibes I’m getting at that point in the race.

There are three seats up, and eight people running. This is ranked-choice race and you get to rank three people. Exactly how this shakes out is complicated, and I strongly recommend watching this video that explains how a multi-seat instant runoff vote works:

The key detail here that I think people need to take into account: when it’s a one-person race, you get to rank three candidates, which means if there are three people you like you can list them in order of preference. With a three-person race, you also get to rank three candidates, which means “who among the candidates I like are the most likely to beat the candidates I don’t like” becomes a more important piece of the equation.

Here’s who’s running, and then I will put in a cut because this is going to get very, very long.

Matthew Dowgwillo
Meg Forney (Incumbent)
Amber A. Frederick (DFL-endorsed)
Mary McKelvey
Tom Olsen (DFL-endorsed, Incumbent)
Adam Schneider (Green and DSA-endorsed)
Averi M. Turner
Michael Wilson (DFL-endorsed)

tl;dr if I were voting today (September 30th) I would vote (1) Tom Olsen, (2) Michael Wilson, (3) Amber Frederick. I may revise that closer to the election, depending (as noted) in part on vibes. ETA 10/30: I’m happy with my rankings.