The Voters Speak: Here's What They Had To Say On Election Day

By Alyssa Chen, Minnesota Reformer

November 6, 2025

Reformer reporters visited precincts in Minneapolis and St. Paul to hear from voters about their selections for city leadership and their mood this Election Day.

Both cities use ranked-choice voting, allowing them to choose multiple candidates in order of preference. St. Paul voters were also asked about a $37 million property tax increase for the school district to maintain programs and staff.

The polls close at 8 p.m.; if you need information on how to vote and more about the biggest races, read our coverage here.

Minneapolis

Over at Bryant Square Park in Uptown Minneapolis, Madeline Schwabe, 26, a nurse at M Health Fairview, said that her health insurance costs have gone up in the past year and voted for state Sen. Omar Fateh — without ranking other candidates — in the hopes of improving “affordability.”

“It all ties into big businesses, CEOs with a lot of money, not trickling down to the people that are actually in the hospital working,” Schwabe said.

Dani Wagner said she’s voting for Sen. Omar Fateh for Minneapolis mayor on Nov. 4, 2025 because “he’s got a positive voice for change. He’s got a good head on his shoulders.” (Photo by Alyssa Chen/Minnesota Reformer)

Dani Wagner, 27, a risk manager, said she supported for Fateh because “He’s got a positive voice for change. He’s got a good head on his shoulders.”

Wagner’s top issue in local elections is bike infrastructure.

“We have a lot of good infrastructure, but we should keep on going,” Wagner said.

At Grace Episcopal Church in Southwest Minneapolis, Dana Lindman-Gustner, 57, a human resources professional, said she ranked Frey first despite feeling “ambivalent” about him, followed by Jazz Hampton and DeWayne Davis.

“It was an incredibly difficult decision because I frankly felt that there were no clear choices that aligned completely with my perspectives,” said Lindman-Gustner, whose primary concern is housing and safety.

For Lindman-Gustner, housing means “safety for everybody, including the unhoused population, but also the neighborhoods in which currently unsanctioned housing is proceeding.”

She said she probably would have ranked Hampton first had he not joined Fateh in an alliance against Frey — a choice that muddied her understanding of Hampton’s platform. On why she didn’t rank Fateh, Lindman-Guster said that she’s a liberal and not a democratic socialist and also cited concerns about Fateh’s ethics.

Lindman-Gustner, who was born and raised in Minneapolis, said that she doesn’t think any of the candidates have come up with a good plan to bolster the city’s declining tax base.

“All of these issues require money,” she said.

Crime was top of mind for many voters in Dinkytown, where one person died and a University of Minnesota student was shot last weekend.

Junior Bailey Taylor, a global political science major, said he ranked Frey first on his ballot because of the mayor’s approach to crime. Taylor, a dual citizen of the U.S. and the United Kingdom, said he hates that people can’t enjoy his home city of London because of crime, and he doesn’t want to see the same fate befall Minneapolis.

“I can’t go out at nighttime here because it’s just so unsafe,” Taylor said. “I hate having to confine myself to my own apartment.”

Taylor said he wasn’t entirely thrilled with how Frey has run the city so far, but he said the incumbent mayor will be better than Fateh, who once endorsed the defund-the-police movement during his first run for state Senate in 2020.

“I don’t agree with defunding the police because that is a bit silly, especially in a city like this,” Taylor said.

Senior Max Locketz, a computer science major, said he ranked Fateh first because he wants to see a more progressive Democrat in office. Frey has had the office for a long time, he said, and he’s ready to see someone new elected.

“(Frey’s) certainly not someone who I disagree with a lot of the time, but at some point you see someone that aligns more closely with what you want,” Locketz said.

Sophomore Vanessa Schaefer said she ranked Fateh first in part because she heard Fateh aims to bring a grocery store to Dinkytown, a notorious food desert for University of Minnesota students.

Freshman Cameron Kreps, a nursing major, ranked Frey first because he met the mayor at a vigil after the mass shooting at the Church of the Annunciation. Kreps said his father lives two blocks away from the church.

“The compassion he showed was amazing for all the victims of the Annunciation shooting, for sure, and I just think he’s very relatable and respectable,” Kreps said.

St. Paul

Ron Dexter, 85, did some quick math and figured out his first vote was for President Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

Dexter was walking into the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center to vote for Carter. “I met him once. I liked him. I like that he’s Black. That’s good for the community,” said Dexter, a Navy veteran who retired after a career as an information technology specialist at the University of Minnesota.

He voted for the education tax increase, too. “Always vote yes on school issues,” he said.

Dexter said the most important policy issues to him are health care, food assistance to people who need it, and protecting trans and other LGBTQ children.

He took out his iPhone, pulled up a to-do list and tapped a box that read, “VOTE.”

Kate Hagen ranked Rep. Kaohly Her first and Mayor Melvin Carter second and supported a tax increase for St. Paul schools. (Photo by J. Patrick Coolican/Minnesota Reformer)

Kate Hagen, a 39-year-old consultant, used an online tool developed by Sahan Journal that matched up her issue preferences with candidates.

She matched up with Rep. Kaohly Her, who gave Carter his toughest challenge this year, while ranking the mayor a close second.

She did allow, however, that downtown St. Paul needs revitalization and improved public safety.

“It could be a healthier place to be,” she said.

Hagen doesn’t have children in the district, but she voted for the tax increase for schools.

Education, she said, “is incredibly important and undervalued.”

Jill Howell, 56, said she cares about crime and revitalizing business in St. Paul. Howell ranked state Her first, followed by Yan Chen and then Carter. She said that she liked Her’s experience with Carter’s administration. Howell, a homeowner, voted no on the tax increase for schools.

“I just felt another tax increase for the schools shouldn’t happen,” Howell said, criticizing the district for not being transparent enough about how it spends money. Howell volunteered at her son’s elementary school library when he was a kid after the district cut funding for librarians.

Katrina Brown, 39, who works in university relations for a study- abroad program and recently moved to St. Paul, said she voted for Carter after talking to her family and friends about her priorities. She said she felt aligned with Carter on important issues to her — such as education and fighting the Trump administration — but “will see how I might change my mind after living here longer than a few years.”

Max Degree, 28, an operations manager for Lime scooters, voted for Adam Dullinger without ranking other candidates.

“I am not a big fan of the center-left,” Degree said. “I felt that Dullinger was the furthest left on the ballot.” Dullinger is the only mayoral candidate who supports St. Paul’s 2021 rent control ordinance and opposes Carter’s exceptions for new construction, the Star Tribune reported.

Degree said, is too “fundamentally similar” to her old political mentor. Her has told the Star Tribune that “values-wise, (Carter) and I share a lot of similar values,” but sets herself apart from Carter in how she shows up and builds relationships.

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