As Tabulation Continues, Levy-Pounds Calls Out Front-Runner Frey

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – As the tabulation process continues Wednesday in the Minneapolis mayoral race, candidate Nekima Levy-Pounds is calling out the current front-runner.

On Facebook, the civil rights activist and attorney wrote that city council member Jacob Frey, who holds the lead after the first round, massively outspent her campaign, took money from developers and was backed by the city's media and more affluent residents.

"Jacob spent over $600,000 in the race for Mayor," Levy-Pounds wrote. "Our campaign spent just over $41,000. Lol!"

She described her campaign has one that bucked the DFL establishment, was supported by "everyday people" and kept a sharp focus on social justice. She says that although she didn't win as many first-choice votes as Frey, she wasn't too far behind.

On Election Day, Frey took an early lead, raking in 25 percent of first choice votes. Tom Hoch came in second, with 19 percent. Incumbent Mayor Betsy Hodges was third, with 18 percent.

Levy-Pounds, meanwhile, was in fifth place.

Minneapolis uses a ranked choice voting system, which allows voters to list three candidates on the ballot in order of preference. If no candidate takes over 50 percent first-round votes, then second and third choices are tabulated.

It could take all day Wednesday for a winner to be named.

In her Facebook post, Levy-Pounds thanked her followers, saying that she felt her campaign "succeeded regardless of the outcome."

"I think we changed the game in a lot of ways," she wrote. "No major candidate for mayor, as far as I know, has as publicly bucked the establishment system."