I think this will be my same list. I really don't want Frey, even if he'd be better than Hoch, and I think Hodges will improve and work well with progressive CMs. NLP and Dehn....not sure they're ready to be mayor but I like their messages.1. Hodges
2. Dehn
3. NLP
Look a lot of you may know that I was pretty strong Frey to start, but he has screwed up... a lot. Starting with crime, I got eeked out by some of the language that was written in the plan for downtown. Then he tries to attack Hodges on the budget issues while all other candidates (besides Hoch) are staying quiet. He's just consistently been going after Hodges on issues that really aren't worth it. He's told developers to do certain things, like keeping height down, just because he's scared it may hurt his election chances. The coming out for Jacob profile picture that quickly came down. Skipping the plastic bag ban vote while his wife is actively lobbying against banning them.
Hodges has been decent, and the city council has a good chance of flipping key seats to make the city even better. PLEASE VOTE FLETCHER IF YOU'RE IN THE 3RD WARD. Dehn is popular with the student population and makes me feel special. I feel like he has enough experience understanding that we need to keep moving forward with sustainability issues, and one of those issues is housing. Nekima has an awesome housing plan, but honestly the charter schools, defending the golf course and occasional accusatory actions has her at 3rd.
I was on team Frey at first. He came to my house to ask for my support and helped me move some firewood, and he seemed to be on my same page, but the whole interaction seemed scripted and very sales-y. Then I noticed whenever I emailed him about bike and ped safety issues (I work in his ward) that I didn't like some of the responses. Just seemed like they didn't really care and were trying to convince me that it was fine, and some of the responses from him directly seemed like...well like he was running for mayor rather than responding to a concerned resident. "I led on this and that bike thing, that pedestrian thing," stats, etc. Seemed defensive, like he took it personally, like I was wrong. And then after one email he declared that he wanted to talk to me on the phone and gave me his cell number. Which is fine, he is known for that, I actually like that about him, but then he found my number somewhere (probably DFL database) and called me and texted me before I even had a chance to call him. I really didn't like that, seemed very pushy, crossed a boundary with me.
Then the public attacks on Hodges which seemed really skeezy, then the cop union-related donations, the conflicts of interest and former "business darling" status, his alliance with Barb and Goodman, his statements about Minneapolis needing "ambition" and "swagger"....I couldn't support him anymore. And his staff is being really annoying on Twitter, claiming that the recent criticisms of his record were coordinated by one of the other campaigns and that men were unfairly ganging up on his female staffer.
He seems overall very Clintonian, willing to compromise, wanting to get things done rather than do the right thing, seems more driven by personal ambition, tries to be everything to everyone, cultish followers and staff, kind of condescending, overly image focused....I just don't like him.