Minneapolis DFL Convention: What’s the Point?
The DFL is Unlikely to Endorse a Candidate for Mayor
The Target Center
On July 19, 800 delegates will gather at the Target Center for the Minneapolis DFL city convention. The likely outcome? No mayoral endorsement—and no clear policy direction.
That’s been the trend in recent cycles. When endorsements do happen, they’re often ignored. In Ward 7, for example, Elizabeth Shaffer received the party endorsement. Yet, sitting DFL officials continue to back her opponent publicly. If party leadership doesn’t respect the process, why should anyone else?
The convention was originally slated for two days but has been trimmed to one. The reason is obvious: there’s little hope that even with two days, the DFL will agree on a candidate or what it means to be DFL. Is it pro-growth or anti-capitalist? Pro-police reform or defund the police? Without clarity, there’s no chance of consensus.
The Complexity of Being a Delegate
Much of the convention will be consumed by delegate disputes—challenges, credential fights, procedural delays. Some ward conventions have already seen shouting matches and allegations of bad-faith tactics. Alternates have been blocked over clerical errors, raising questions about whether delegate slots are being manipulated to favor preferred candidates.
There’s also a push within the party to ban dual endorsements from DSA and DFL. It’s another symptom of internal fracturing. Rather than debating actual policy or articulating a vision for the city, energy is being spent policing who’s allowed in the room.
In the absence of ideological coherence, the convention becomes little more than an expensive arena rental for political theater that generates press releases but no progress.
Meanwhile, the stakes for Minneapolis are high. Public safety, livability, housing, and economic development all require practical, durable policy solutions. The convention process, as it stands, is not delivering them.
Minneapolis needs leadership focused on Minneapolis. If the DFL can’t agree on a shared agenda, it may be time to move past conventions altogether and let voters choose in a straightforward primary.
The party has to decide whether it wants to define its values or continue staging rituals that mean less with each passing year.
Better Minneapolis will be at the convention, providing live coverage and analysis via a paid subscriber-only chat. We hope you'll join us.
"Rather than debating actual policy or articulating a vision for the city, energy is being spent policing who’s allowed in the room."
Amen. I stopped being a delegate to city conventions several cycles ago, seeing how easily manipulated by bloc voting groups they had become, and that the only way to endorsement was to have your delegates outlast your opponent's delegates. Providing child care and pizza was often the deciding factor! MN should break ranks with the few states that use the caucus/convention system (along with Guam and American Samoa!) and go to a well-run primary system.
Thank you for this post. I would add a few other details.
On caucus night, some precincts had only a handful of people attend, while others had dozens. One precinct had no online registrations according to the online form data (precinct 6-5, Phillips West); it's possible some people showed up in-person but it's hard to say without easily accessible data. So some parts of the city are overrepresented in the caucus system, while others have zero representation.
Then consider the case of a large and politically-engaged precinct like 10-1 (Lowry Hill East). That caucus lasted well over 4 hours on April 8th. The people who managed to stay the entire evening (and many left early, because of the grueling, confusing and frustrating nature of the experience) are now expected to go to a city convention on July 19th that could last 12 hours, with expensive food options (and no ability to bring your own food), that will likely not result in any endorsement.
It's not fair or democratic to ask people to spend upwards of 16 hours to participate in what should be a straightforward vote. And based on the backgrounds of the delegates and alternates, you can see at a glance that the majority of them don't represent mainstream views (and if mainstream views are "wrong," the DFL and its delegates are effectively saying the average person is not worth listening to, and can be easily overpowered and disenfranchised in the general election initially via the caucus system).