More plot twists in the DFL Ward 10 saga [Updated: Warsame banned for life]

Council member Jeremiah Ellison is accused.

Yesterday, the challenger for the Democratic endorsement in Ward 10 for the Minneapolis city council, Nasri Warsame, held a press conference to tell his side of the story about Saturday’s abandoned convention.

All of the local media are covering this story, with pieces by, among others, the AP, Fox 9, KTSP, MN Reformer, and Star Tribune,

Warsame’s campaign manager, Abshir Omar, is accusing current Ward 5 council member, Jeremiah Ellison, of punching him at the Ward 10 convention on Saturday. Ellison attended the convention in support of his fellow council member Aisha Chughtai.

Ellison’s own endorsing convention, for Ward 5, was cancelled owing to voting irregularities of one of his challengers.

Ellison is the son of current MN Attorney General Keith Ellison. He denies the allegations.

I find the “he said/he said” uninteresting. What I find interesting is that both Ellison and Omar are figures at the fringes of the Feeding Our Future scandal.

Ellison received $3,000 in campaign donations in 2021 from persons later indicted in the Feeding Our Future case. Omar’s role with Feeding Our Future was first reported by MN Reformer back in October. Neither man has been accused of any wrongdoing in the case.

Among Warsame’s other accusations regarding the convention on Saturday is that the event was being run by members of the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter (TC DSA), a faction of the Minneapolis DFL party. The DSA, while running the event, had already endorsed Chughtai for the position.

Here is the current pinned Tweet on the TC DSA twitter account:

The Star Tribune reports,

Warsame’s allegation that the convention was unfair plays on tensions within the DFL. Several senior Minneapolis DFL officials, including several who ran Saturday’s convention, support the Democratic Socialists of America and the similarly named Democratic Socialist Caucus, groups that seek to pull the party to the left.

The state Democratic party’s executive committee is scheduled to meet tonight in emergency session to sort it all out.

{Update: At the meeting, the DFL state executive committee adopted three new bylaws, pending full-party approval. On a provisional basis, applying the new bylaws, the Executive Committee took the step of banning Warsame for life, announcing last night,

Contingent upon ratification of Bylaw 1 and Bylaw 2, the State Executive Committee hereby permanently disqualifies Nasri Warsame from seeking and receiving DFL endorsement or letters of support at any time in the future, for any office.

The Star Tribune reports on the party’s actions last night.

What’s next for Warsame and his city council campaign?