On Tuesday night while most Americans watched the Virginia election between Glenn Youngkin (R) and Terry McAuliffe (D) Minnesota’s largest city held an important election of its own. Voters in Minneapolis rejected a measure that if passed would have replaced police officers with a Department of Public Safety.
Context: Minneapolis was the epicenter of massive George Floyd protests in 2020. Since then communities across the country have been divided over controversial movements to defund police department’s with supporters arguing that police are more often than not racist against minorities and pose a threat to the community.
The proposed initiative would have removed language from the charter related to the agency, including minimum funding requirements, and would have divided control of public safety between the mayor and the City Council.
