Jacob Frey has been elected to replace two-term incumbent Diane Hofstede as the Minneapolis City Council member for Ward 3.Frey secured more than 61 percent of first-choice votes and joined two other Council newcomers in unseating incumbents Tuesday night.“I think it’s become so much more than about me. I think it’s a movement towards a new Minneapolis,” Frey said at his election night party at Elsie’s Restaurant, Bar and Bowling Center in northeast Minneapolis with nearly 200 lively supporters.Beginning in January, the Minneapolis attorney and former Team USA marathon runner will represent a ward that encompasses parts of the University of Minnesota area, including Dinkytown and Marcy-Holmes, as well as portions of Northeast and downtown.Hofstede, who has held the office since 2006, watched election results with about 100 supporters at a friend’s home on Eighth Avenue Northeast, two blocks from Frey’s party.When all precincts reported, Hofstede informed her supporters that the results weren’t what they hoped.“We have had a wonderful eight years,” she said. “This is my home, and this is my community, and I’m going to be here participating and making it better.”Frey also beat Green Party candidate Kristina Gronquist and Libertarian Party candidate Michael Katch, who each garnered about 6 percent of first-choice votes.“The idea that two DFL candidates would put almost a quarter of a million dollars into Ward 3, which is a really humble ward of mostly working-class people, is obscene, actually,” Gronquist said. “It’s a tough act to beat. It’s an almost impossible situation for a third party.”Throughout this election season, Frey amassed more than $100,000 in campaign contributions, nearly double what Hofstede reported.Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, was at Frey’s event Tuesday and said Frey’s strength came in his energy and ability to “gather people around his ideas.”“Jacob really built a force. Continue Reading
