Frey Takes Early Lead For Minneapolis Mayor, History Made On City Council

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Results from Minneapolis elections are already rolling in as polls close in the city's third bout with ranked choice voting.

In the race for mayor, City Council Member Jacob Frey is taking an early lead, with 25 percent of first choice votes. Tom Hoch, the former president of the Hennepin Theatre Trust, is just behind with 19 percent. Incumbent Mayor Betsy Hodges is in third with 18 percent and Ray Dehn -- a state representative -- is in fourth with 17 percent.

Results will likely be tabulated into Wednesday, as the complicated process for distributing voters' second and third choices continues.

Meanwhile, several candidates for Minneapolis City Council have already secured their seats with more than 50 percent of the vote. In Ward 8, Andrea Jenkins became the first transgender woman elected to a major city council the country. On the same night, Danica Roem, another transgender woman, was elected to the state legislature in Virginia -- another first.

Incumbents Lisa Goodman Ward 7, Cam Gordon in Ward 2, Lisa Bender in Ward 10, Andrew Johnson in Ward 12 and Linea Palmisano in Ward 13 sewed up sizable majorities on first choice ballots.

Election officials say the turnout was unusually high, and caused hiccups at several precincts across the city. Several polling places ran out of ballots, but officials promised anyone who was in line by 8 p.m. would be given the chance to vote. Ballots had to be photocopied, then election judges duplicated the information onto official ballot forms -- that's allowed under state law. Then those ballots could be counted.

You can view the full results in all Minneapolis races on the Minnesota Secretary of State's website.

St. Paul election officials initially said results would take longer but a clear winner emerged after the first ballot -- former City Council Member Melvin Carter.