“The Residents in My District Don’t Have the Luxury of Incremental Change”
Democratic Socialists of America–backed candidate Omar Fateh scored an upset primary victory and will almost certainly represent the Minnesota State Senate district where George Floyd was killed. We talked with Fateh about the working-class agenda he put forward, why he’s a democratic socialist, and how Floyd’s killing transformed the political landscape.
Omar Fateh, candidate for Minnesota State Senate in District 62 of Minneapolis. (Photo courtesy Omar Fateh)
Omar Fateh is a first-generation American, a community organizer, and a democratic socialist who is one of the latest Democratic Socialists of America–endorsed candidates headed to public office. Fateh’s campaign and political pedigree are very much of the Minneapolis left, reflecting his district’s East African, Latino, indigenous, and African American activist history — the center of which is Lake and 38th, where George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in May.
A member of DSA, Fateh pulled off an upset against longtime incumbent Jeff Hayden by securing the Democratic Farmer Labor Party (DFL, the Minnesota Democratic party affiliate) endorsement and then winning outright in the primary election. In heavily Democratic Minneapolis, he’s all but certain to win next week’s election.
Minneapolis labor organizer Nicholas Rea spoke with Fateh over video call about his campaign, what he learned from the killing of George Floyd, and his plans for bringing democratic socialism to the Capitol in Saint Paul.
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