IP adds runner-up choices for Minneapolis mayor

Left to right, Minneapolis mayoral candidates Stephanie Woodruff, Don Samuels and Cam Winton. (Winton and Samuels images from MPR file photos; Woodruff photo courtesy of the candidate)

The Independence Party says if its first choice, Stephanie Woodruff, can't muster enough support for Minneapolis mayor, it would settle for Don Samuels. And if Samuels fails to make the grade, Cam Winton would do.

IP endorsement
Left to right, Minneapolis mayoral candidates Stephanie Woodruff, Don Samuels and Cam Winton. (Winton and Samuels images from MPR file photos; Woodruff photo courtesy of the candidate)

Woodruff announced her first-choice endorsement, yesterday. Today, the IP revealed its second and third choices in the race.

Minneapolis uses ranked-choice voting to elect its mayor and other municipal offices. Voters can pick up to three candidates and rank them in order of preference. There's no primary, and already 18 candidates have filed to place their names on the general election ballot.

None of the IP-endorsed candidates have been active in the party. Samuels and Woodruff are DFLers. Winton has the support of the city's GOP, but he didn't seek its endorsement or the Independence Party's.

No other party has made a ranked endorsement this year, although the Star Tribune editorial page encouraged the DFL to do so.

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