Meet Omar Fateh, the Somali-American reformer shaking up Minneapolis politics. Hailed as the “Mamdani of Minneapolis,” he’s aiming to pull off a political earthquake and make history as another Muslim mayor leading a major American city.
As world attention focuses on New York and Zohran Mamdani’s race for the post of city mayor, Fateh’s bid in Minnesota’s state capital could see two Muslim mayors elected at a time of rising toxicity in America’s bitter culture wars.
His campaign has riled up right-wing forces and sparked an outpouring of Islamophobic abuse, similar to the hate experienced by Mamdani in New York. His views, religion, and cultural heritage have all come under attack.
If elected, Fateh would become the first Muslim mayor of Minneapolis and only the second Black mayor in the city’s history. But just how hopeful is this lesser-known American Muslim candidate?
Who is Omar Fateh?
Omar Fateh, 35, is a politician in Minnesota, United States, who was born in Washington D.C. to Somali immigrant parents.
He later moved to Minneapolis and, in 2020, became the first Somali-American and Muslim to be elected to the Minnesota State Senate, representing District 62.
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Fateh has carved out a profile as a progressive or “democratic socialist” voice and has campaigned heavily on helping working-class people and minorities.
In late 2024, Fateh declared his candidacy for Mayor of Minneapolis, with the election scheduled for 4 November 2025.
His platform emphasises affordability, with a focus on rent stabilisation, more affordable housing, raising the minimum wage, and reforms in public safety.
Fateh is trailing the incumbent Jacob Frey in available polling, but the gap is not enormous, and the high number of undecided voters means the race remains competitive. Because of ranked-choice voting, what matters is not just first-choice support but also how supporters of other candidates decide to rank Fateh or Frey as their second-choice options.
Fateh initially won the endorsement of the Minneapolis Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) Party, which had backed the incumbent Frey in past years.
However, on 21 August, the local DFL endorsement was revoked by the state party after the electronic voting system failed to capture all votes in the contest, leaving the race without an endorsed candidate.
The race is considered wide open, but the close gap between Fateh and Frey hasn’t yet seen Fateh take the lead in any of the available polling.
The Somali population in Minneapolis is a significant and vibrant community, with an estimated 80,000 Somalis living in the city.
While the community has overcome challenges adapting to life in a new home, it still faces socioeconomic struggles such as underemployment and high poverty rates compared to other groups living in the state.
Islamophobic attacks
Fateh’s campaign has been subject to overt Islamophobic and even racist attacks throughout 2025.
In late September, Fateh’s campaign office in Minneapolis was vandalised with a threatening message reading: “Somali Muslim — this warning is no joke.”
The campaign filed a police report and released a defiant statement saying: “Our campaign will not be deterred by hate speech and vandalism. We will not back down to Islamophobia. I will not be bullied or intimidated.”
His team told the press that Fateh has dealt with regular abuse over his religion and culture on more than one occasion.
In July, on X, the right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk — who was assassinated on 10 September 2025 — had tweeted: “Muslims are commanded to take over the government in the land they live. The attempted Islamic takeover of America is made possible thanks to mass migration,” in a quote post referencing Fateh’s campaign.
Fateh responded by condemning the hate: “Minneapolis is a beautifully diverse city that stands firm in our progressive values. The hate I’ve seen today – and most days – is not who we will ever be. I’m running for mayor to work with you to achieve the affordable city we know Minneapolis can be.”
More recently, at a rally, Fateh went viral for waving a Hiraan state flag from Somalia. Right-wing X accounts condemned the incident, with some urging for Somali immigration to be totally banned as a result.
Conservative Christian journalist Matt Walsh, who works for the pro-Israel website The Daily Wire, said: “We should have never allowed immigration from Somalia at all. It has not benefited this country in the slightest way. Now they are taking over once-proud American cities and will turn them into the same kind of failed, dysfunctional hellscapes that they fled.”
As Islamophobic rhetoric sweeps through America, a new generation of pro-Palestine Muslims is challenging the country’s powerful pro-Israel establishment head-on.
From Dearborn to New York and now Minneapolis, the political map is turning into a fierce battleground between rival forces fighting for the nation’s conscience.
Christian conservatives, Zionists, and the Trump-fuelled MAGA machine have unleashed a torrent of attacks against left-wing figures — especially Muslim candidates daring to crash the gates of U.S. politics.
But Washington’s unwavering support for Israel’s onslaught in Gaza has ignited a political awakening among Muslim Americans — one that could soon notch its first major triumph if Mamdani takes New York.
And if Omar Fateh pulls off a shock win in Minneapolis, it could mark the start of a political reckoning — the moment Muslim Americans storm the system they were long shut out of.
