Minneapolis mayoral candidate says his campaign office was vandalized
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Minneapolis mayoral candidate and state Sen. Omar Fateh says his campaign office was vandalized this week, with an Islamophobic message and threat graffitied on a wall.
In a news release late Wednesday, Fateh’s campaign said it filed a police report over the incident, in which someone wrote “Somali Muslim — This warning is no joke” on the building.
“The senator has received a steady stream of hate, racial, and Islamophobic slurs, and violent threats to the campaign email, his Senate email, and across social media,” the campaign reported.
In a statement, Fateh said his campaign “will not be deterred by hate speech and vandalism. We will not back down to Islamophobia. I will not be bullied or intimidated.”
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Minneapolis police acknowledged to MPR News that a report on the incident had been filed. In an update Thursday afternoon, police said that officers responded to the building on Cedar Avenue on Wednesday and saw the graffiti.
“MPD is investigating and has referred the incident to the MPD Behavioral Threat Assessment Team,” the department said. No one has been arrested.
In a press release, the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on local, state and federal authorities to investigate the matter as a hate crime.
“We strongly condemn this cowardly and hateful act of intimidation targeting Senator Fateh,” said CAIR-MN executive director Jaylani Hussein. “This alleged threat is not just against one individual — it is an attack on Minnesota’s Somali, Muslim, and immigrant communities, and on our democratic process. In light of the recent assassination of Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, the failed assassination attempt against Senator Hoffman and his wife, and the most recent assassination of political figure Charlie Kirk, we must urge for increased vigilance.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said city staff went to the building Thursday to remove the message.
“Islamophobia and hate against any religion or ethnicity have no place in Minneapolis. I spoke with Sen. Fateh yesterday and made it clear that my office, MPD and our administration stand ready to help. City staff went out this morning to scrub the vandalism from the building,” Frey said in a social media post.
Frey is also a candidate in the city’s mayoral race.
