The Forum on Climate Resilience and Energy Access on June 29, 2017 included 11 candidates for Minneapolis Mayor. Hosted and organized by Community Power and MN350.  It was an informative and civil 3 hour + discussion about important issues that engaged the community and included all candidates willing to attend. An overflow crowd at Open Book in Minneapolis was attentive and encouraged by the positive tenor of the Forum. I suggest that Ranked Choice Voting is a major force moderating candidate actions and words, while encouraging thoughtful arguments and common goals.

One of the reasons I have been so adamant about promoting the 2017 Election in Minneapolis is to highlight and promote the positive potential that can be manifest in political races joined by the Left, Progressives, and the DFL. Remember: every seat in MPLS government is up for renewal in 2017. Mayor, City Council, Park Board. Estimation and Taxation, even the School Boards. The 2017 elections are the beacons pointing the way forward in 2018 and beyond. I think the entire State and every person in it, here and across the country, would do well if their elections were run in this way.

New Hughes answer to the thoughtful respect shown by all the candidates and the even-handed moderation by the hosts was to rearrange the responses and sort them into a series of 11 candidate-specific videos. The questions were repeated in each clip and the chronology of the event was maintained. The result is a challenge of even the most dedicated advocate of Attention Span Extension Therapy. Its like an edited version of C-SPAN for local politics.

Here you go, In random order, your candidates for Mayor of Minneapolis in 2017.

Betsy Hodges

Tom Hoch

Captain Jack Sparrow

Ray Dehn

Nekima Levy-Pounds

Troy Benjegerdes

David Rosenfeld

Jacob Frey

Bob Carney

Answar Rahman

Al Flowers

NOTE: Individual videos are independently sharable. Find your favorites and Rank Video by sharing your top 3 on the New Hughes Video Feed Page on Facebook.