Democrats see political peril in replacing Minneapolis PD

As activists mobilized this summer to ask Minneapolis voters to replace their police department, one of the first prominent Democrats to slam the plan was a moderate congresswoman who doesn't even live in the city.

Angie Craig declared it "shortsighted, misguided and likely to harm the very communities that it seeks to protect." She warned that it could push out the city's popular Black police chief.

Craig's district covers a suburban-to-rural and politically divided region south of the city, but her willingness to jump into the fight next door highlights the political threat that Democrats like Craig see in the proposal.

As a city that has become synonymous with police abuse wrestles with police reform, the effort is sharply dividing Democrats along ideological lines. The state's best known progressives - U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and Attorney General Keith Ellison - support the plan, which would replace the police department with a new Department of Public Safety. Other top Democrats, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Gov. Tim Walz, oppose it.

The debate is dominating the city's mayoral and City Council races, the first since a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd in May 2020 and sparked a global racial reckoning. Passing the amendment would be a major win for the reform movement - both in substance and symbolism.

But many in the Democratic establishment believe calls to "dismantle" or "defund" police cost the party seats in statehouses and Congress last year. They're determined not to let that happen again next year. Defeating the Minneapolis measure has become a critical, highprofile test.

"If we talk about reforming the police, people are overwhelmingly in favor of it. When we say 'defund,' we lose the argument," said Colin Strother, a Texas-based Democratic strategist. "Democrats that keep using 'defund the police' are only hurting themselves and the cause, quite frankly."

The ballot proposal slated for the Nov. 2 election asks voters whether they want to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new Department of Public Safety that would take a "comprehensive public health approach" that "could include" police officers "if necessary.

"It doesn't use the word "defund," and critics say that was a deliberate attempt by a majority of City Council members to conceal their aims. Ellison, a strong supporter of the proposal, said in an interview that amendment supporters simply want "more tools to guarantee public safety, more than just a police-only model. They want other people who have expertise in mental health, housing, violence reduction and intervention" who are better trained to handle situations that armed police now face alone.

But he's wary of the phrase "defund the police," which he called "a cry for reform" that comes from "young people who were absolutely outraged by what happened to George Floyd."

Ellison said he avoids using it, calling it "hot rhetoric, not a policy, not a program" that doesn't accurately describe what the amendment would do. And he downplayed the idea that Democrats should be afraid of supporting the amendment, saying Republicans will attack them no matter how the issue is framed.

Minister JaNaé Bates, a spokeswoman for the pro-amendment Yes 4 Minneapolis coalition, said she's frustrated by the divisions among Democrats.

Those who depict the proposal as defunding the police are using "fearbased rhetoric" and a "right-wing dog whistle" as a distraction, she said. Police "most certainly" will be part of the proposed new agency along with professionals trained to handle situations for which armed officers are not suited, she said.

"The fact of the matter is Democrats, progressives, liberals all across