Somali Tribal Politics Defines Minnesota Election

Colin Slechta, CA - Writer. 

Incumbent Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey secured reelection against State Senator Omar Fateh on election night Tuesday. Minneapolis’s ranked-choice voting system meant that no candidate received the majority needed to win the election in the first round. Mayor Frey won the second round after securing 50.03% of the vote to Fateh’s 44.37%. Fateh ran a progressive campaign modeled on Zohran Mamdani’s in New York City and was endorsed by the Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America along with several progressive representatives, including Ilhan Omar and Ro Khanna. 

Surprisingly for an American city, both candidates devoted extensive time and resources to pandering to Minneapolis’s large Somali immigrant community. Mayor Frey ran extensive campaign ads and gave part of his victory speech in Somali; "No matter where you are from, Minneapolis should be a place where you are proud to call home," Frey told the crowd in English, "Whether you are from Bosaso, or Mogadishu, whether you're from Hargeisa or Galkayo," referring to cities in Somalia, "Minneapolis is a place where you come to seek prosperity” Frey continued, “This election means this is a moment for unity, where the entire Somali community can come together and say, ‘This is our people. This is our city. We are united behind each other.’”

The election was a microcosm of Somali ethnic infighting. Members of the Hawiye and Darod clans both supported different opponents. In the  Somali language, "qabil" is the word for clan. The five major clan families in Somalia are the Dir, Isaaq, Darood, Hawiye, and Rahanweyn. Fateh’s coalition began to splinter after Somalis found out that Fateh and Omar had endorsed Hispanic Jason Chavez against fellow Somali Yusuf Haji. Frey’s victory in the mayoral election was a joyous occasion for the Somali Hawiye community, who revelled in the defeat of Darod-backed Fateh. Many Somalis lamented the defeat of Fateh, arguing that qabyaalad - or tribal infighting - was harming the interests of the Somali diaspora, who should have rallied behind their ethnic brethren. 

It’s worth noting that policy played very little role in this race. It’s safe to say that most Somali Darods did not support Fateh because of an agreement with his housing policy, and most Somali Hawiyes did not flock to Frey because of his stance on policing. Somalis, disgusted with the outcome of the election, made no attempt to even pretend that this was anything other than an attempted power grab for their ethnic group.  

One wonders what the founding stock of this country would have thought if they had the opportunity to see Minneapolis now. If one thing is for certain, it is that they did not intend for elections in this country to be dictated by ethnic divisions from the other side of the globe.