Election results updated: Hodges in as mayor; Cano, Yang, Palmisano win city council seats; St. Paul counts on Monday

UPDATED November 8, 5 p.m.: After three days of counting, Minneapolis has a winner in the mayoral race — Betsy Hodges — and in the three city council races that awaited Ranked Choice Voting counts. In Ward Five, Blong Yang will be the new city council member. In Ward Nine, the winner is Alondra Cano. In Ward Thirteen, Linnea Palmisano wins. St. Paul will begin the RCV vote for Ward One on Monday.  

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In St. Paul, Mayor Chris Coleman easily won re-election, with 78 percent of the votes.

Abdi Warsame will become the first Somali city council member in Minneapolis, winning 63.92 percent of the vote, with strong organizing winning a clear victory over incumbent Robert Lilligren in Ward Six.

Three Minneapolis city council races await RCV counting to determine a winner. In Ward Five in North Minneapolis, Blong Yang has a commanding lead of 42 percent over Ian Alexander (30 percent), and Brett Buckner (21 percent).

In Ward Nine, Alondra Cano, the DFL-endorsed candidate, got 41 percent of the first choice votes, leading Socialist Alternative and Green-endorsed candidate Ty Moore with 38 percent.

Linea Palmisano (43 percent) and Matt Perry (39 percent) will also await the RCV count in Ward Thirteen.

Ranked Choice Voting The City of Minneapolis website describes how Ranked Choice Voting works: How are Ranked Choice ballots counted? On Election Night, ballot counting machines will be used to provide first-round results, counting every first-choice selection. Candidates who have enough first-choice votes to win their particular races will be declared winners. Races in which it is not possible to determine winners solely on the first-choice rankings will proceed to round-by-round RCV tabulation beginning the day following the election. For single seat offices (Mayor, City Council Members, and Park and Recreation Board District Commissioners) Candidates with no mathematical possibility of winning (including the candidate with the lowest number of first-choice votes) are defeated, and votes for those candidates are transferred to the next ranked candidate on those ballots. Votes are re-tallied. If no candidate reaches the threshold to be elected, this process is repeated until either a candidate reaches the required threshold and is declared the winner, or only two candidates remain and the candidate with the most votes is elected. For multiple seat offices (two seats for Board of Estimate and Taxation At-Large, and three seats for Park and Recreation Board At-Large) Candidates with no mathematical possibility of winning are defeated, and votes from those candidates are transferred to the next ranked candidate on those ballots. When a candidate reaches the required threshold and is declared elected, that candidate’s surplus votes over the threshold are distributed proportionately to the next ranked candidates on the ballots of the elected candidate. The process of defeating and electing candidates continues until the required number of candidates is elected.

In St. Paul, the special election for Ward One has Dai Thao (28 percent) leading Noel Nix (24 percent), with both far ahead of the rest of the seven-candidate field.

The St. Paul school board contest, which is not subject to Ranked Choice Voting, had three expected winners: incumbents Jean O’Connell (29 percent) and John Brodrick (25 percent) and newcomer Chue Vue (31 percent).

Money counts? Maybe not so much

The common wisdom that campaign spending predicts winners was wrong in two Minneapolis races. The first campaign finance reports showed Mark Andrew outspending Betsy Hodges by a substantial margin. Final campaign finance reports are due by January 31.  According to the pre-election Hennepin County campaign finance report records, Andrew raised $420,0284.91 to Betsy Hodges $277.989.59.

In North Minneapolis, Brett Buckner spent more than $50,000, almost all his own money, outspending other candidates by more than a two-to-one margin. Despite the big campaign spending, he came in third

The rest of the Minneapolis city council races

Here’s the full list of Minneapolis city council races:

Ward One – Kevin Reich

Ward Two – Cam Gordon

Ward Three – Jacob Frey

Ward Four – Barb Johnson

Ward Five – Blong Yang leads, but winner will be determined by RCV vote

Ward Six – Abdi Warsame

Ward Seven – Lisa Goodman

Ward Eight – Elizabeth Glidden

Ward Nine – Alondra Cano (41 percent) and Ty Moore (38 percent) lead, but winner will be determined by RCV vote

Ward Ten – Lisa Bender

Ward Eleven – John Quincy

Ward Twelve – Andrew Johnson

Ward Thirteen – Linea Palmisano (43 percent) and Matt Perry (39 percent) lead, but winner will be determined by RCV vote

Minneapolis Park and Recreation Commissioners

Three at-large seats – Winner will be determined by RCV vote. Leading candidates in first-choice ballots are John Erwin (24.74 percent), Annie Young (15.66 percent), Meg Forney (13.23 percent), Tom Nordyke (10.97 percent) and Jason Stone (9.02 percent).

District 1 – Liz Wielinski

District 2 – Jon Olson

District 3 – Scott Vreeland

District 4 – Anita Tabb

District 5 – Stephanie Musich

District 6 – Brad Bourn

Board of Estimate and Taxation

Two seats: Winners are Carol Becker (49 percent) and David Wheeler (34 percent)