You might expect warnings of “DSA extremists” committed to “making sure that criminals feel safe in Minneapolis” from quacky right-wing media outlets like Alpha News. But this election cycle, the call is coming from inside the house.
Landlords, developers, business owners, and their sympathetic suburban allies are joining forces to secure the levers of power in City Hall. They’ve spent over $300,000 on centrist candidates in 2025, and show no signs of slowing down—these groups expect to spend a whopping $1.75 million through November. And they’re apparently willing to say whatever they have to about their opponents to win.
The hyperventilating quotes above come from All of Mpls, whose numerous mailers you’ve maybe glanced at before tossing them in the recycling bin. All of Mpls and Thrive Mpls are separate independent expenditure political committees (IEPCs)—what you or I would call political action committees, or PACs. Though they’re legally distinct entities, they share an identical pool of donors and employees and endorse the same folks running on pro-police, anti-rent control tickets.
Progressives are punching back with a PAC of their own called Minneapolis for the Many, which has spent $100,000 over the same period of time. Established in 2023, this org primarily endorses candidates who are pro-renter, -worker, and -police reform. Because Minneapolis for the Many supports democratic socialist candidates, its moderate opponents often label the PAC “dangerous” and “extreme.”
Is limitless fundraising by opaque money machines the future of campaign finance in our city? Here’s what Racket found about the longer history of these groups, and what you need to know heading into one of the most consequential municipal races in years.
All of (the Richest People in) Mpls: The Mayor’s Pals Form a Band
The first of these PACs to arrive on the scene was the presumptuously named All of Mpls. Founded in 2021 by longtime corporate lobbyist Richard Forschler, All of Mpls calls itself “a broad-based effort to counteract the increasingly counterproductive discourse that currently dominates Minneapolis elections and policymaking and, instead, promote accountability of candidates and elected officials to a broad and diverse base of Minneapolis voters,” if that means anything to you.
Since January 2025, All of Mpls has raised $619,550. The organization’s deep pockets are lined by literal Rockefellers, like John D.’s heir Alida Messinger, who donated $20,000, and the sort of Los Angeles transplants who get highlighted in the Star Tribune for purchasing an Edina mega-mansion for just $5.7 million.
Big business is also among All of Mpls’s top donors, including Silicon Valley-based rideshare giant Lyft, which donated $10,000, and the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce, which donated $60,000. Several Minnesota-based developers and construction management companies, including Anocoats, Doran Family Holdings, Bader Property Management, and Frana Companies, donated a collective $65,000.
The All of Mpls website highlights its endorsed candidates as “pragmatic champions” of Minneapolis. Pragmatism, by the PAC’s definition, is a counterweight to the growing faction of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in the city. The DSA endorses sitting members of City Council like Robin Wonsley in Ward 2, Aisha Chugtai in Ward 10, and Jason Chavez in Ward 9, as well as challengers to All of Mpls candidates like Soren Stevenson in Ward 8 and Frey’s toughest mayoral challenger, state Sen. Omar Fateh.
All of Mpls’s fundraising blitz typically focuses on DSA-backed pro-renter policies, like rent stabilization, along with scaremongering about “defunding the police.” “Opposing the DSA agenda and all that it entails is vital to the future of our city,” All of Mpls Chair Karin Birkeland wrote in a recent newsletter. Birkeland is a retired partner of the law firm Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath who has worked closely with Frey in the past.
In an August fundraising call for All of Mpls, leaked by independent journalist Taylor Dahlin, Birkeland told donors that All of Mpls was working “tirelessly” at “invalidating the [DFL] convention” that endorsed Fateh. On the same call, retired City Council Member Lisa Goodman told leadership that she was sitting on thousands of dollars of checks she could deposit to All of Mpls from various donors whose support was contingent on the success of the appeal. Birkeland did not respond to Racket’s request for comment.
Dahlin has spent more time than anyone in town keeping close tabs on campaign spending. Her blog is a wealth of detailed reporting on local politics that draws extensive lists of donors into the light of day, painting a composite image of the interests at play.
The alarmist rhetoric deployed by All of Mpls begins to make sense when considering that 43 percent of their donations came from conservatives. “I get the impression that they almost feel like they have more in common with the Republicans [than progressives],” she says.
All of Mpls’s Children: We Love Minneapolis and Thrive Mpls
All of Mpls acts as an umbrella organization for subsidiary PACs, like the now-defunct We Love Minneapolis, which raised over $300,000 in the short six months that it was active.
Andrea Corbin, former chair of the PAC and owner of the Flower Bar in Uptown, said she wasn’t involved much in politics prior to establishing We Love Minneapolis earlier this year. Its sole purpose was to turn out participants to the DFL’s Ward Conventions to endorse city council candidates. “Ninety-five percent of the candidates that got the DFL endorsement ended up winning so it has a huge influence on the general election and most people haven't even heard of [these conventions],” Corbin says.
Corbin was widely criticized for donating $260 to the Republican Party in 2024. “I'm an independent,” Corbin says. “I don't pick parties.” But she is absolutely against democratic socialists.
“I feel like a lot of the policies that the DSA are lifting up have good intentions behind them, but they don't have the end result that they're looking for,” she says. “We've seen what happened in Cuba and Venezuela and socialist countries. It becomes corrupt and everybody is taxed heavily… the whole system fails.”
After progressives claimed a majority on the City Council in 2023, Corbin decided to join the front lines in the fight against socialism. Last March, she hired Mayor Frey’s former campaign manager, Joe Radinovich, as the organization’s lead strategist and political operative Nico Woods as its lead organizer. Andrew Minck, deputy treasurer for WLM, is also Frey’s treasurer for his re-election campaign.
Despite hiring those seasoned vets, WLM made a few, uh, procedural missteps. In September, the group was posthumously fined $4,000 for failing to properly report a $35,000 donation from the Downtown Council and $72,585 from the Minnesota Multi Housing Association.
But that’s all in the past. After the DFL Ward Conventions this summer , a new PAC, Thrive Mpls, was established in place of We Love Minneapolis, specifically in support of Frey’s re-election. Some of the same characters, namely Radinovich, are involved in this operation.
Richard Kolodziejski, treasurer of the organization, tells Racket that Thrive is not connected to We Love Minneapolis or All of Mpls. “Thrive is a separate entity PAC that focuses on field work… it’s primarily for Jacob Frey,” he says.
And yet, Thrive’s only donation ever was $105,000 from All of Mpls.
The Left Gets in the Game: Minneapolis for the Many
Luke Mielke, Wintana Melekin, and Chelsea McFarren co-founded Minneapolis for the Many in 2023 in direct response to the growing influence of corporate dollars in local races. The org’s foray into local politics proved lucrative—it helped deliver a progressive majority to the City Council in 2023 despite being outspent by All of Mpls four to one. Minneapolis for the Many reported $133,415 in contributions since January 2025.
“We founded the PAC so that there was a vehicle for the voices of working class residents of Minneapolis,” McFarren says. “We felt like their voices had gone unheard in their previous mayoral election [in 2021].”
Minneapolis for the Many is championing a ranked-choice strategy for mayor, endorsing Fateh, Rev. DeWayne Davis, and Jazz Hampton. It’s also supporting a slate of candidates for City Council, not solely based on their affiliation with the DSA. Some endorsed candidates, like sitting Ward 12 City Council Member Aurin Chowdhury, are endorsed by the DFL. “We back candidates who will stand up for renters and workers,” McFarren says.
Minneapolis for the Many critics say the group takes money from outsiders who have no stake in Minneapolis, like Movement Voter Project (MVP), which donated $30,000 in March. McFarren says this is a misrepresentation of their relationship.
MVP has chapters in 26 states across the country. It works as a “mutual aid fund,” capturing donors who support progressive policies and funneling their support to aligned organizations. Minneapolis for the Many is one of those groups. MVP told MinnPost the group has counted “over 800 [donors] in Minnesota and over 400 in Minneapolis alone.” McFarren says she communicates directly with the MVP Minnesota field office, which also supported organizing for the “Minnesota Miracle” legislative session that made national headlines for its ambitious progressive wins in 2023.
Only two other individual donors have contributed more than $10,000 to Minneapolis for the Many, and of those two, neither have a stake in property management, development, or the business community in the Twin Cities. Still, should progressives even be playing the PAC game?
“I don't think PACs are ideal for democracy,” McFarren says, calling Minneapolis for the Many a “necessary evil” in this political ecosystem. “I think they're a product of a political system where money is louder than the voices of the people, unfortunately. If only one side is able to use these tools, and that one side that is more heavily funded and entrenched in the status quo, they'll be the ones that are able to continue to control the narrative.”
Do You Believe in Life After PACs?
There may be an alternative. Cam Gordon, former independent City Council Member for Ward 2 and co-founder of the Green Party in Minnesota, has also been tracking the role of PACs in local politics. He’s hopeful that we can shift away from this process entirely. “There are other things that we could do besides playing by these new rules,” Gordon says. “I don't want us to feel like it’s our only option.”
Gordon is aware of “six cities across the country experimenting with publicly funding campaigns,” offering potential solutions to the current fundraising arms race. Some cities are adopting voucher programs like Democracy Dollars in Oakland and Democracy Vouchers in Seattle.
In Oakland, the city mails residents $100 vouchers that they can donate to municipal races. To claim this funding, candidates must attend five public debates and are subject to caps on fundraising from private donors. The program goes into effect next year.
In Seattle, residents receive four $25 vouchers that can be donated to candidates for local office. To be eligible, candidates must receive a number of signatures and a number of qualifying donations. Researchers at Georgetown University observed a significant uptick in participation from low-income groups.
“Minneapolis should come up with a strategy so that there could be public financing for these local elections,” Gordon says. “That might help more people feel empowered to say, ‘I'm going to ignore the independent expenditures.’”
Perhaps it’s time Minneapolis considered campaign finance reforms here at home. Establishing a PAC has become tantamount to obtaining nuclear sovereignty, with devastating consequences for the health of our local democracy.
