DeWayne Davis is running for mayor. Will it be enough to turn out fellow Northsiders?
The Rev. DeWayne Davis is putting himself in front of as many voters as he can in hopes of unseating incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey. Photo by Azhae’la Hanson
By Melody Hoffmann, Reporter
A pastor purposefully moved with his husband from Washington, D.C. to North Minneapolis to see for themselves if the stereotypes about localized inequities were true. The Rev. Dr. DeWayne Davis clocked those inequities and began addressing them through his pastoral work and serving on community boards.
Now 12 years into his Northside residency, Davis is running for mayor.
Minneapolis will be voting on Nov. 4 on whether to re-elect Mayor Jacob Frey or choose from a number of challengers. Davis is running for mayor alongside Sen. Omar Fateh and Jazz Hampton, the most viable candidates to challenge a mayor who swept the Northside in 2021.
Davis has yet to break through in Minneapolis, and there is a lot of voter turnout work to do in North Minneapolis.
Mpls for the Many, a local PAC that has endorsed Fateh, Davis, and Hampton for mayor, released poll numbers showing that 62% of the 822 Minneapolis voters polled are undecided about their opinion of Davis. Conversely, 16% of the same people polled aren’t sure of their opinion of Frey.
The Northside routinely lags behind the rest of the city in voter turnout. The last time the city elected a mayor in 2021, the average voter turnout was 54%. In Ward 4, it was 41% and in Ward 5, it was 35%. Comparatively, wards in South Minneapolis had voter turnout averaging 70%.
Davis has a lengthy resume with federal government experience and has spent his time in Minneapolis being a politically active pastor. There is not much time left to prove whether that is enough to win the mayor’s race in November.
Davis spoke to a lot of potential voters at Open Streets West Broadway on Sept. 6. Photo by David Pierini
Davis navigated a controversial DFL endorsement convention in July and has worked to get his name out to voters as Fateh, a headline-grabbing state senator, gained early support from DFL delegates.
Fateh supporters point to the senator’s state-level government experience and success in passing legislation for working-class people of color.
“DeWayne is an executive,” Max Collins, Davis’ campaign manager, said in an interview with North News. “When you’re talking about running for mayor, that’s not a legislator, that’s an executive.”
Davis has previously been a senior legislative assistant for U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyner, the director of government and business relations for Sallie Mae, and a policy analyst for the Episcopal Church in Washington D.C.
“He’s run organizations, he’s run two major churches here in Minneapolis,” Collins continued. “He’s had staff of hundreds of people.”
Davis has been the lead minister at Plymouth Congregational Church in Stevens Square for the last five years, and before that, began his pastoral service in Minneapolis as the senior pastor at All God's Children Metropolitan Community Church in Powderhorn for seven years.
Without a one-on-one moment with Davis, voters may not be aware of his political accomplishments and his unique ability to connect with people in a matter of minutes, a skill fine-tuned by being a pastor.
Davis is a burgeoning politician who does not chase a media spotlight or wade into political drama.
After Davis was eliminated for a DFL endorsement by a tenth of a percentage point back in July, he chose to focus on the campaign’s future and avoid wading into what Collins called a “black hole.” And when Frey chose to challenge the subsequent Minneapolis DFL endorsement of Fateh, Davis did not sign on to the challenge.
Regardless, the DFL infighting may mean little to Northside voters who focus less on the candidates and more on the issues impacting their everyday lives.
Voters look at issues rather than the candidate
“It could be a penguin in a suit, but if that penguin is going to deliver a $15 minimum wage, they will vote for the penguin,” the executive director of New Justice Project MN, Rod Adams, said about Northside voters.
Adams has spent years canvassing on the Northside, including with the now-defunct Neighborhoods Organizing for Change from 2015 to 2017. According to Adams, New Justice Project MN increased Northside voter turnout by 4.5% in 2021.
“People don’t have the disposable time to put into politics,” said Taylor Dahlin, a citizen journalist who has been covering the 2025 mayoral elections and grew up in Ward 4.
Dahlin reported on an internal All of Mpls PAC poll that showed the Ward 5 city council race is a “toss-up” and will be determined by who puts in the most resources.
“You’re not going to have anything change without concrete, long-lasting investment in getting people out to vote,” Collins said about the Northside.
Adams said having a robust civic engagement strategy is paramount for getting people to vote on the Northside, but it’s a hard ask to begin with.
“Working class and poor Black people are politically apathetic to democracy right now,” Adams said.
Adams has also witnessed a lack of resources being put into Northside campaigns.
“I've worked on elections where the party just assumed that voter turnout was going to be low over North, so they didn't put many resources there,” Adams said. “I want to make sure that people know that they’re not being dismissed, but they're in a game.”
New Justice Project MN doesn’t play that game.
The organization canvases five days a week in North Minneapolis. It reports that access to affordable housing, lowering child care costs, and increasing the minimum wage are the top issues people talk about.
Davis’ campaign reported that public safety, police reform, affordable housing, and the strained relationship between the mayor and City Council are the top issues heard across the city.
The mayor’s capacity to be a mediator extends beyond City Hall, too.
“He can’t show up to a federal raid on Lake Street,” hyperlocal local media producer John Edwards said. “I’m trying to imagine a scenario where Jacob Frey shows up to a raid and tries to be a peacemaker or a de-escalator, and I can’t imagine him doing that.”
A raid at a local business on Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue in June drew out Davis, Fateh, and Hampton, who all interacted with protestors and law enforcement. Frey was not present.
Edwards has publicly stated he is ranking Davis first on his ballot in November. “His humility is not an act,” Edwards said. But unlike voters on the Northside, he said he is voting this year on the candidates’ personal qualities, not issues.
Davis made a campaign stop on a recent evening in Mueller Park. Photo by Azhae’la Hanson
DeWayne over North
“I think North is very lucky to have a man like DeWayne up in their part of the city,” Collins said. “He isn’t in it for himself.”
When Davis first moved to North Minneapolis, he chose North Point Health & Wellness Center for his doctor because it was the closest clinic to his house. When Davis realized the providers lacked cultural competency to treat patients on the Northside, he spoke up.
“It’s wild that he walks in and he goes, ‘let me talk to your executive director on how to be better,’” Collins said. Davis was also on the Hennepin County Medical Center’s Community Advisory Board from 2019 to 2021.
“He is active in the community,” Collins said.
On the campaign trail, Davis’ campaign will be door-knocking with Northside City Council candidates, Ethropic Burnett and Marvina Hayes, this fall.
The Davis campaign wants to give people “a candidate that they can actually vote for,” Collins said, “Versus being like, ‘oh is this the lesser of two evils?’”
Davis and other candidates face the challenge of getting their names out to voters and competing with the Frey campaign and aligned PACs that have raised more money than Davis, Fateh, and Hampton combined.
Thrive Mpls, a new Frey-aligned PAC, is planning to spend at least $1 million just on advertising, as reported by Dahlin. All of Mpls, another Frey-aligned PAC reported a $293,000 balance in June. Mpls for the Many, which is trying to unseat Frey, had a balance of $51,000.
Campaign donation reports in August showed Davis with $6,000 on hand after raising $175,000. Frey had $449,000 after raising $647,000, Fateh had $54,000 after raising $269,000, and Hampton had $21,000 after raising $78,000.
Davis is endorsed at the city-level by City Council President Elliott Payne, Ward 12 Councilmember Aurin Chowdhury, and Board of Estimate and Taxation President Steve Brandt.
Ward 4 Councilmember LaTrisha Vetaw has endorsed Frey. Ward 5 Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison has not endorsed a mayoral candidate.