Dear c-suite class, you are welcome in our public spaces too.

I know of at least one person at a polling place who needed to be reassured that it wouldn't wreck their life: "Every time I vote they call me for jury duty."

It's very much like California, just much more affordable.

Jason Garcia inherits the legacy of Jono Cowgill

If Elizabeth Shaffer put her name on a bench and distributed them across the city I would also take swift and immediate action. There are people in this world who feel the same about EHB for BET. He's a menace.

My post-election thoughts and an open letter to the backroom cabal who selects our candidates for mayor.

Who knew that Professor Hot Dog Larry Jacobs would be the test case proving the old adage "yard signs don't vote, bicycle signs do."

Someone who closely tracks vacant Uptown real estate messaged me to ask about the "purple building" mentioned in this post. I had to explain it was a joke about the Millard campaign spending $2,000 on purple paint for the walls of their temporary office.

Really disappointed in this offensive sign displayed in the window of the Uptown UPS store.

For the sake of completeness, I've extended my dollars per vote chart to include the top two candidates in each ward. Bob Carney is your true great value champion at zero dollars per vote. This is money RAISED in 2025 per vote received, as of the pre-general filing deadline.

Becka Thompson wins the Great Value Award for the council candidate with fewest dollars spent per vote received - $4.21. She still lost big to Aurin Chowdhury ($6.47). Shelley Madore ($62.31) outdid Lydia Millard ($42.59) for biggest spender per vote. Both of them lost big.

🏆 Congratulations Ward 12, you produced highest number of voters this year. Total votes cast by Minneapolis ward (roughly equal populations - 33k): W1 13,038 W2 6,955 W3 13,737 W4 6,935 W5 5,037 W6 7,797 W7 13,285 W8 12,276 W9 8,417 W10 11,367 W11 14,202 W12 17,168 W13 16,951

Kenwood was 81-17 for Shaffer and East Isles was 51-49. Shaffer couldn't win without it. No other neighborhood in W7 comes close to massive Kenwood margin. I don't know what happened or who hurt them.

Precinct 10-1 NORTH WEDGE delivered so many votes for Jason Garcia for Park District 4 that it wiped out Jeannette Colby's entire margin in Ward 7 precincts. Garcia was +669 in 10-1. Colby was +631 in W7. Colby's advantage in W7 precincts was due entirely to 724 vote lead in Kenwood (83% vs 14%)

The Josh Martin Candidate Viability Index predicted all winners for mayor and city council. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Why does Josh Martin lie to us?

Jazz and DeWayne winning over these voters is actually a good thing. Winning over soft Frey voters was always going to be necessary. And Omar Fateh was always extremely unlikely to be the candidate to do it, despite finishing way out in front of the rest of the challengers.

Becka Thompson talking about "skills and temperaments" is something. The real "low information voters" are the ones who put Becka over 30%.

I'll be looking for "lit dropping cropduster rental" on the finance report. It's the only explanation for what happened to the $170k+

Great reminder for future Ward 10 candidates that cranks have lost 100% of the elections held since redistricting added Whittier and removed East Isles.

Never forget

Is this what we're calling Eric Harris Bernstein now?

When you give the city's swankiest ward 26 years of Lisa Goodman, 2 years of Katie Cashman can feel like oppression.

I don't think we have an equivalent.

Counterintuitive that St Paul would replace their mayor, while a more troubled mayor in Minneapolis was reelected. Did Melvin Carter need to bring in a team of scapegoats? It's a powerful thing when confronted by bad news to be able to point and say "they did it."

If you're contemplating a move to Canada, let me know. I'm working on a story about the "Shaffer Effect."

One result of 3 Frey terms is that several useless little dweebs from the Frey universe will keep climbing the ladder, becoming our insufferable business minions of the future. The Frey coaching tree will bear fruit for a generation. The next Jonathan Weinhagen is in that group.

Uptown Deathwatch: there's a soon to be vacant commercial space in Uptown, freshly painted with the finest purple paint money can buy. Hard not to blame Aisha Chughtai.

One of the all time greats. I have a Jason Garcia poster in my childhood bedroom.

If I identify with any post election truther movements, it's Koski truthers.

Cemetery monument for a state senator who died in the 70s captures my feelings about Jason Garcia going into battle with their insides all torn up — and defeating an endless series of opponents, with the final boss seemingly spending more time unconscious than Jason.

Uptown cat spent all night poring over the results and campaign finance reports, laughing at the ward 10 dollar per vote ratios. Spent all day sleeping in the sunlight.

One thing I don't do anymore is take for granted who is gonna be council president. Good luck counting votes. Things can get weird and nasty between now and January.

Check-in with the Lakewood cemetery turkeys

Blotter: Guy in the Wedge carrying a pile of discarded Millard campaign lit he found on the streets. Don't be alarmed, he's not a Millard campaign worker, the election really is over. He just hates trash.

Current board reopened what everyone thought was a settled issue, so let's do it again! We still have an adopted long range plan in place that supports doing the fiscally responsible thing.

We know a lot is going on with election week. But if you can spare some time tomorrow, please join us at the rally as we deliver the community petition with @twincitiesdsa.org and other coalition members. 📍Wilder Foundation 🕠 5:30PM www.ourstreetsmn.org/event/mndot-...

To all those getting my hopes up with breathless predictions of JAZZ WINS, turn in your pundit badge and report to pundit jail.

I remember finishing this interview thinking she's nice, she's fun, I can see why she's had success in life, but how can you get away with pretending to have zero opinions on how streets should be built when you're running for mayor?

Fact check: the Hennepin construction was locked in while Goodman was in office (and over her strong objections). It's why Graham's pledge to stop the project in the 2023 campaign was so dumb. Was he gonna chain himself to construction equipment?

Working on spreadsheet calculations to power my new Millard-o-meter™ that measures campaign futility per dollar spent. Millard set an all time Ward 10 fundraising record, almost triple Chughtai, and lost big anyway.

Big money and fear produced some big wins in key council races for Team Frey, but progressives know they need to scratch and claw all the way down their ballot for park board and BET.

We love Jason Garcia, but Colby appeared to be using the "there was only one set of footprints because Elizabeth Shaffer was carrying my lifeless body the whole time" strategy.

Bad news for progressives: W7: Cashman loses, 52-46. W5: Ethrophic Burnett down 38-28. Needs to make up a ton of ground in ranked choices. Good news: W10 & 2. Chughtai and Wonsley with big wins over very well funded opposition. W8: Stevenson 56-39.

My on the ground experience of the Wedge is that everyone voted. Grueling, rewarding day at the polls for election judges.

🚨EARLY EXITS: all your enemies are voting in high percentages and will get their way over the next four years unless you show up to the polls and bring several friends.

The official "I'm moving to Canada" standard for the city election is if Elizabeth Shaffer wins in Ward 7. We can survive all other potential outcomes. I'm having Josh Martin verify the spreadsheets now.

Sorry, you're the entire state of Colorado.

at the corner of hennepin and franklin ave in ward 7 where the katie cashman team and elizabeth shaffer team are waving signs for drivers. cashman has more people, but shaffer has a guy in a blue jay costume. “we built this city on rock and roll” playing from a boombox now

All of today's posts & election analysis were pre-scheduled, to get around rules of my other employer that I can't post on election day. You can tell I'm not posting live, because where I'm at right now, Hulk Hogan still lives.