(Reuters) -Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey won a second term in Tuesday’s election, emerging from a crowded field of candidates after a tumultuous year dominated by the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder by a white city police officer, city election results showed on Wednesday.
Frey, 40, a Democrat, had opposed a ballot measure – backed by his more liberal rivals – that would replace the police department with a new public safety agency.
Instead, he charted a middle ground, calling for police reforms while also vowing to hire more officers for a department that has been hit hard by departures and has struggled to curb a spike in violent crime.
Minneapolis employs a ranked-choice system for its mayoral election, in which voters can rank up to three candidates in order of preference.
Frey led after the first round of votes were counted on Tuesday, but he fell short of the mark needed for an outright victory. He cemented his win in a subsequent round of counting on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Tyler Clifford)
