Faith in Minnesota scores a clean sweep. Will Rochester’s politics ever be the same?
ROCHESTER — Faith in Minnesota, a progressive political organization, scored an impressive clean sweep in Tuesday's elections.
The area's politics may never be the same.
It displayed a Midas touch. All three Rochester City Council candidates endorsed by the left-leaning group won seats on the council. And a $194 million Rochester Public Schools referendum supported by Faith in Minnesota passed with flying colors.
It was an impressive display of organizational muscle. And for a political group making such a foray into Rochester for the first time — mobilizing scores of Rochester volunteers on doorknocking and phonebanking campaigns on behalf of its candidates and causes — it may well be a harbinger of the future.
From the beginning, Faith in Minnesota, the political arm of ISAIAH, a Twin Cities-based progressive group, never disputed that it was introducing a level of organizing and mobilization new to Rochester. Advocates call it a grassroots effort focused on raising awareness on issues important to the community such as affordable housing and creating strong schools and vibrant neighborhoods.
Critics called the DFL-aligned group an out-of-town interloper that was injecting politics into what are supposed to be non-partisan races. They fear that the rancor and blood-sport nature characteristic of the two-party system at the national level will seep to the local level.
"We had a lot of volunteer leaders who worked really hard and who took risks to try on new roles," said Olivia Bergen, a Rochester organizer for Faith in Minnesota. "Now we get to think about a future for our city where our kids are going to have the resources they need to learn. And we get to think about how we continue to shape our city to be more vibrant and welcoming and affordable for people."
The group endorsed Randy Schubring for the council's at-large seat and Nick Miller to represent Ward 2 and Dan Doering Ward 6. All three won.
The group also deployed manpower and resources in shepherding a $20 million a year operating levy referendum for Rochester schools across the finish line. An earlier version failed last year. Tuesday's measure passed overwhelmingly with 57% approving the measure.
The feat was all the more impressive because it passed on a crowded general election ballot, something that hadn't been done since World War II. School leaders often prefer to hold referendums in off-year elections when fewer people turn out to vote and the odds of passage aren't seen as long.
But the Rochester district felt it had no choice but to put the question to voters on Tuesday, because without additional funds, the district faced an immediate $16 million budget cut.
Rochester Superintendent Kent Pekel said the failure of last year's referendum tempered his expectations for what might happen Tuesday.
"I was very conservative in getting my own mind in a place where I was kind of not overconfident," Pekel said. "I just really didn't know. But we had no choice. If we didn't (hold a referendum) this year, we were cutting for next year."
Asked about the role played by Faith in Minnesota in passing the referendum, Pekel said its support "made a difference." But so did the support of Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce, the local chapter of the NAACP and the PTAs. All played a "critical role" in its passage. He noted that the school district's outreach was separate from these campaigns.
"I would not highlight just Faith in Minnesota. I would strongly highlight the chamber, RAEDI (the Rochester Area Economic Development Inc.), the NAACP, among others," Pekel said.
Sheila Kiscaden, a retiring member of the Olmsted County Board of Commissioners, has argued in print and interviews that local races for Olmsted County Board and Rochester City Council should maintain their nonpartisan nature.
She says Faith's ability to recruit and train volunteers and coordinate its activities among its endorsed candidates bears the hallmarks of a political party.
"They're a partisan group working to effectively organize people who agree with their philosophy," she said. "Partisanship is now a growing part of our local politics."
Kiscaden said challengers to Faith in Minnesota-endorsed candidates in future races will face an "uphill battle" without similar organizational support "because Isaiah is a political force." It's possible that organizations on the right will emerge to counter Faith's influence and support their own slate of candidates. But it's not clear yet whether that will happen.
Another possibility is that the Rochester City Council eventually evolves into a political body similar to the Minneapolis City Council, a body dominated by a single progressive philosophy.
A council run by progressive Democrats would have a different dynamic than one divided along a GOP-DFL axis. There would still be disputes but the disagreements would take place among members with varying shades of progressive philosophy.
"Isaiah has been a unifying force for progressives. It doesn't always mean the progressives will always stay unified," Kiscaden said. "And if the only game in town is to be a progressive Democrat to be elected, then you're going to start to see the shades of nuance among progressives."
Bergen said the door-knocking campaigns organized by Faith showed that people in the Rochester community hunger for conversations about local issues. Even in a general election in which a new president was elected and the conversation was taken up with national politics, "people really wanted to talk about their lives that they're living in this community, the things that they love," Bergen said.
Bergen said politics in Rochester will change as a result of Faith's involvement. The group doesn't see elections as the end of the journey but the beginning.
"The heart of what we do is how we win real things for real people after elections," Bergen said. "So we'll continue to be organized for the best possible schools for our kids, for neighborhoods where all sorts of people can afford to live and feel connected to each other."
