MINNEAPOLIS — Local city council races, school board battles and funding referendums will take center stage during Tuesday's off-year election, with hundreds of candidates vying for a number of important positions across the state of Minnesota.
In Minneapolis and St. Paul, for example, all 20 city council seats will be on the ballot. More than half of St. Paul's seats are open after those incumbents chose not to run for re-election, while in Minneapolis, the balance of power between the council and Mayor Jacob Frey may be at stake. Meanwhile, in Duluth, progressive incumbent Mayor Emily Larson faces a tough challenge against centrist former state legislator Roger Reinert, who defeated Larson in a primary earlier this year.
Larry Jacobs, a professor of politics at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs, said many of these races illustrate the ideological differences within the DFL Party.
"We've seen this very clearly in Minneapolis where the city council has moved hard to the left, and we're seeing it in Duluth, and seeing it elsewhere. In St. Paul, there's a battle over increasing sales taxes," Jacobs said. "This is a real tension within the Democratic Party. Is it going to be more of a centrist party or is it going to move further to the left?"
As Jacobs mentioned, St. Paul voters will decide Tuesday whether to raise the city's sales tax by 1 percent to pay for road and park improvements, along with school board elections.
Across the state, school board races have also emerged as major political battlegrounds, with dozens of districts holding elections this year. That includes Anoka-Hennepin, Minnetonka, and South Washington County, to name just a few.
The races have also drawn big money — which is rather unusual.
"School board elections used to be kind of a sleepy thing, about 'who could you even get to run?' But now you're seeing liberal and conservative groups going at it," Jacobs said. "There are big national and state funders weighing in on these school board races. We've never seen anything like this before."
Overall, it's difficult to predict how many people will go to the polls on Tuesday to vote in these various local elections.
In Minneapolis, former Minnesota DFL Chair Mike Erlandson said he does not expect the city to approach anywhere near the 2021 voter turnout level of 54%. That year, Mayor Frey was running for re-election and there were some major ballot initiatives demanding voters' attention.
"The number-one question for all the candidates in the city is, who is going to vote? There's not a lot on the ballot other than the city council," Erlandson said. "These are critically important races, and I expect the turnout is going to be very low."
However, Larry Jacobs doesn't necessarily see it the same way, given the amount of money being spent in some of the city council and school board races in 2023.
"I think the turnout tomorrow is going to be quite high. I don't think it's going to be record levels, or what we've seen the last few years, and it certainly won't be at a presidential level. But it will be elevated," Jacobs said. "Because again, we're seeing money going into these races, and we're seeing the candidates really fighting closely contested battles."
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist:
WATCH MORE ON KARE 11+
Download the free KARE 11+ app for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and other smart TV platforms to watch more from KARE 11 anytime! The KARE 11+ app includes live streams of all of KARE 11's newscasts. You'll also find on-demand replays of newscasts; the latest from KARE 11 Investigates, Breaking the News and the Land of 10,000 Stories; exclusive programs like Verify and HeartThreads; and Minnesota sports talk from our partners at Locked On Minnesota.
- Add KARE 11+ on Roku here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Roku Channel Store.
- Add KARE 11+ on Fire TV here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Amazon App Store.
- Learn more about the KARE 11+ app for Apple TV in the Apple App Store.
- Learn more about KARE 11+ here.