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Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025

Has it been more than a century since Minneapolis last elected a socialist mayor?

Nikita Vashisth, MinnPost
yes

Thomas Van Lear, elected in 1916, was the only Socialist Party candidate to serve as Minneapolis mayor. 

Most recently, Democratic Socialists of America, separate from the Socialist Party, endorsed Omar Fateh for Minneapolis mayor in 2025, but Fateh lost to incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey.

Van Lear took office in January 1917 and served one term until 1919. According to MNopedia, Minnesota History Society’s digital encyclopedia, he was a longtime labor activist and machinist who joined the Socialist Party in the early 1900s. 

Before his successful 1916 bid, Van Lear ran twice for mayor in 1910 and 1912 and for Congress in 1914. 

More than 1,000 Socialist Party candidates were elected to public office in the first two decades of the 20th century, according to University of Washington’s Mapping American Social Movements Project. In 2025, Seattle and New York City elected mayors who describe themselves as democratic socialists.

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