WASHINGTON (TNND) — The Minneapolis Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party voted to endorse Omar Fateh, a self- described Democrat socialist running for Minneapolis mayor, over incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey during its convention on Saturday.

“I am incredibly honored to be the DFL endorsed candidate for Minneapolis Mayor.,” Fateh, a 33-year-old state senator wrote on X. “This endorsement is a message that Minneapolis residents are done with broken promises, vetoes, and politics as usual. It’s a mandate to build a city that works for all of us.”

Fateh securing the DFL Party’s nomination is a major upset for Minnesota’s current Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey, who first was elected in 2017 and lead the city through the Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd in 2020. A spokesperson from Frey’s campaign said that they intend to appeal the endorsement, Axios reported.

“This election should be decided by the entire city rather than the small group of people who became delegates, particularly in light of the extremely flawed and irregular conduct of this convention,” Frey campaign manager Sam Schulenberg said in a statement.

Officials from Frey’s campaign said the party’s online delegate voting system had crashed and that a smaller number of votes was reported than what was expected. However, Minneapolis DFL Party official Briana Rose Lee said that the system was working but just was lagging and that a representative from each campaign was permitted to oversee. the vote count.

In the initial round of voting and the only one reported, Fateh won 43.8% of the vote and Frey won 31.5% . Eventually, Fateh secured enough votes to get himself over the 60% voter threshold required to land the party’s nomination. The DFL’s endorsement of Fateh is the first time the party has given an endorsement in the Minneapolis mayor race since 1997.

Fateh, who is running on promises to make Minneapolis more affordable by raising minimum wage and implementing rent control, mirrors New York City’S Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who won the city’s primary race just a month ago. Both Fateh and Mamdani are self-described Democratic socialists, state lawmakers that are in their 30s, and their meteoric rise indicates that the Democratic party may be moving more far left.

Have questions, concerns or tips? Send them to Elaine at emallon@sbgtv.com.