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Serving the UMN community since 1900

The Minnesota Daily

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Student demonstrators in the rainy weather protesting outside of Coffman Memorial Union on Tuesday.
Photos from April 23 protests
Published April 23, 2024

Mayor race merits no endorsement

The lack of qualified alternatives to a preoccupied Rybak disappoints.

Last Thursday, The Minnesota Daily Editorial Board endorsed Allen Kathir in the Ward 3 City Council race. Today, we endorse Cam Gordon for Ward 2 and spend considerable space arguing against the ballot measure that would change our municipal government structure. With all these endorsements and the wider municipal elections coverage, readers are probably wondering what the Editorial BoardâÄôs position is on the Minneapolis mayoral race. R.T. Rybak may have been a fine mayor over the past eight years. He ensured a light-rail-ready replacement after the interstate 35-W bridge collapsed, he has balanced budgets and added 100 police officers to the department (to be fair, Rybak has failed to reign in an expensive, lawsuit prone PD). R.T. Rybak, endorsed by the DFL, is so busy testing gubernatorial waters that we question whether he has enough time to do the other job heâÄôs campaigning for: to serve as mayor of the city of Minneapolis. While the Daily Editorial Board would like to rebuke Rybak âÄî who has attended more gubernatorial forums than mayoral ones this year âÄî by endorsing one of his opponents, none of the other candidates appear to have the experience necessary to do the job. John Kolstad is endorsed by the Minneapolis Republican and Independence parties but lacks government experience and name recognition like most of RybakâÄôs opponents. The Daily Editorial Board would gladly endorse a strong campaign with grassroots activism or an incumbent who engages competition in the spirit of healthy democracy. Instead, we are disappointed and simply endorse learning more about the candidates to make your own informed decision for mayor.

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