Democrats love to tell us that nothing ever needs to be done to ensure that elections are honest, secure, and properly conducted. Physician, heal thyself. The party just had to throw out a vote to officially endorse socialist Omar Fateh for mayor of Minneapolis, over incumbent Jacob Frey, after a review found that 176 votes were not counted due to an electronic voting system failure. That’s 176 missing votes in a canvass in which only 555 votes were cast, and it’s nearly twice the margin by which Fateh defeated Frey. Oopsie.

Frey is a progressive who occasionally masquerades as a socialist or a moderate depending upon what bind he’s in at any given moment. In 2020–21 he veered from pandering to rioters to distancing himself from the “Defund the Police” crowd after its backers all got voted off the City Council; in 2024, he sided with Tim Walz against the City Council’s most extreme efforts to soak Uber and Lyft by jacking up their minimum driver wages. He’s predictably cheering the revocation of his rival’s endorsement as an act of good civic hygiene, telling the press that it’s a positive sign that Democrats can admit their mistakes. But Fateh allies such as Ilhan Omar aren’t taking it well. Omar’s name leads a statement by 17 left-wing Minnesota Democrats ripping the decision in darkly conspiratorial tones that denounced shadowy outside “big money” and tiptoed up to the line of openly playing the race card:

We strongly condemn the DFL’s Constitution, Bylaws & Rules Committee’s (CBRC) decision to revoke the DFL endorsement from Omar Fateh. Last month, thousands of caucus-goers and delegates across Minneapolis gathered to participate in the Minneapolis DFL Convention. Now, a month later, a small group of DFL board members, a majority living outside Minneapolis, met privately to overturn the will of Minneapolis delegates who volunteered, organized, and participated in a months-long DFL process. It is inexcusable to overturn the results weeks after the convention because board members did not like the outcome…

Right now, there is a clear tension between the progressive democrats who are challenging the status quo and moderate democrats. It is extremely disheartening that Omar Fateh, the first Black mayoral candidate to be DFL-endorsed in the last three decades, will have his endorsement revoked. . . . The DFL Party is a big-tent party and all factions should be fairly represented, not silenced. Minneapolis is the heart of the engine of Democratic turnout in our state. Undoubtedly, this appalling decision will leave many voters feeling discouraged and unwelcome from participating in our party.

Throughout this mayoral campaign, we have seen the influence of big money in our politics. This should not be how decisions are made in our party. Blatant corruption should be widely condemned, not tolerated. We know organized people beat organized money. Fateh’s campaign organized and won the endorsement. This decision will be a stain on our party for years to come and damage our ability to organize for Democratic wins this year, next year, and beyond.

We’ve seen this sort of act before in Democratic primaries, and it’s a reminder that these kinds of charges from the left are not only leveled against Republicans.