Minneapolis for the Many’s claims about Corbin and about We Love Minneapolis are demonstratively false
You may have received this March 24 email from Minneapolis for the Many. They claim that a MAGA donor has started a new Minneapolis PAC, “flooding city elections with conservative money…”
But who is Andrea Corbin? And who is We Love Minneapolis, the PAC they are referencing? Why was this PAC started?
Our contributor, Terry White, interviewed Ms. Corbin and published both the tape and transcript on his Better Minneapolis Substack, on March 12, 2025. (Mr. White is a self-funded, local and independent contributor to Minneapolis Times.)
If you listen to it, you will learn that Corbin is a single mom with four kids. You will learn that she owns and operates a flower shop in Uptown. You will learn she has spent a lot of time picking up garbage, painting over graffiti, dealing with bricks smashing through her shop windows. You learn she has had routine experiences with people from encampments struggling with mental health and addiction.
You will learn that 18 months ago, Corbin had no idea about politics in Minneapolis. Like most people, she was just living her life, raising her family, and going to work, ignorant of local politics.
But then that changed. Last summer, two doors next to her flower shop, the Subway store got robbed at gunpoint – four times. Clearly public safety was becoming an issue in her neighborhood.
At the time, construction was underway on Hennepin Avenue, just as construction on Lyndale Avenue was scheduled to begin – two major north-south commercial corridors just block apart, undergoing construction at the same time. This construction disrupted traffic flow throughout Uptown and to her business. And the construction was not done. The City and County intended to make even more radical changes to Lyndale, more changes that would further harm access to her business.
She attended a public meeting about roadway changes proposed for Lyndale. The room was full of people wearing matching buttons, identifying them as part of the bicycle lobby. They dwarfed the business owners. The bike lobby wanted to make over Lyndale for bicyclists and pedestrians at the expense of access to jobs and businesses by automobile. This would be done by reducing or removing cars from the street, eliminating parking, narrowing streets and putting obstacles in them, and inserting bicycle lanes even though there was not any sizable demand for them. As a small business owner dependent on drop-in customers arriving by automobile, she said, “…I don’t know a main street in the entire state that doesn’t have parking. Everybody needs to be able to park in front of a business to frequent it, especially in the really cold winter months that we have”.
She wondered why weren’t small businesses heard? The answer was that their voices were drowned out by the bike coalition members, activated by Our Streets, using an online platform to send out thousands of emails their City Council members and city staff. The voices of business owners were drowned out by the emails and tweets of a small number of bicycle advocates. Democracy was thwarted by social media tools.
Then she learned that Our Streets was connected with a web of groups organizing and door-knocking year-round, not just for bicycle lanes but for a whole far-left agenda. For example, one of her neighbors got an Our Streets email which said that they were knocking doors with the Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). This seemed strange, especially as Our Streets has received funding from the City of Minneapolis.
Ms. Corbin learned that the DSA operates like a political party, with its own agenda and platform, one that it is pushing in Minneapolis. It has colaborated with a number of other far-left groups like Our Streets. Its agenda can be seen in the opening page of its 2025 endorsement questionnaire:
“We find ourselves faced with multiple and intersecting crises, exacerbated by nativist, racist anti-labor forces. These issues will not be solved by continuing the failed policies of neoliberalism, nor by the cruelty of the capitalist system, nor can electoralism be our sole agenda. The broad struggles of the global working class, across every point of injustice, will only be righted through the collective efforts of all, working in solidarity towards the change we need, against every effort to divide us. Only through this mass organizing will we achieve a truly democratic society, where an empowered working class is centered, and the needs of people are acknowledged and addressed, rather than shut out and ignored.”
But the DSA intentionally does not register officially as a political party. They function like a political party by screening candidates, endorsing candidates, and turning out people for DFL caucuses. But once they get their candidates endorsed by the DFL, the DFL does the hard work of getting them elected. That is how Minneapolis got a City Council controlled by socialists.
They do this so moderate Democrats have no choice other than to support their socialist agenda, or not participate in politics at all, or leave for the Republican Party.
How does the DSA control elections in Minneapolis? The DSA is successful at turning out their small number of members to the DFL caucuses, and then to DFL candidate endorsing conventions. The socialist delegates at DFL endorsing conventions work to get their socialist candidates endorsed. Over 95% of candidates that have gotten the DFL endorsement in Minneapolis over the last 10 years have been elected so if the socialists can capture the DFL endorsements, they very likely will get their socialist candidates elected. And this is why in 2025, Minneapolis has a socialist-controlled City Council.
This was eye-opening to Corbin. The people who get the power to make decisions about roadway design, encampments, public safety – all the things that impact her daily quality of life, – are there because a few hundred activists. And they are running the same playbook again this year. This was a call to action for Corbin.
Corbin Starts “We Love Minneapolis” to turn People out to Caucuses and to Vote.
The fact that the TDCSA has been controlling the caucus process is what motivated Corbin to start “We Love Minneapolis.” Ms. Corbin shared in her interview with Terry White, “…people don’t understand how powerful the caucus process is … there’s a direct correlation between people who get elected and people who get the endorsement. So just by showing up, everybody thinks, oh well, you know, the DFL caucus process is where the DFL vets their people. No. It’s not.”
We Love Minneapolis exists to turn out regular people to DFL caucuses, DFL conventions, and ultimately to vote for Democrats in the election in November. Recently it was expanded to have a legal mechanism to support candidates who would listen to concerns of ordinary citizens and local business owners. Despite what Minneapolis for the Many says, they are not a conservative group. They are not MAGA. They are a Democrat-led, locally-funded organization that exists to turn out Minneapolis voters for the elections process.
Is Corbin a conservative? Reports from the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board (MCFB) and City of Minneapolis show that Ms. Corbin has made exactly three political contributions to two state-registered recipients: In 2024, she donated $500 to Mayor Frey’s 2025 re-election campaign, and $250 to Ward 3 Council Member (CM) Michael Rainville’s re-election campaign. Both Frey and Rainville are long-time active members of the DFL. Reports from the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) show that Ms. Corbin made exactly one political contribution to a federally-registered recipient, in 2024: $260.25 to the Minnesota Republican Party. She explained that this was for tickets to a business networking event hosted by the MNGOP, that she attended with her partner at the request of a friend.
Minneapolis for the Many’s claims about Corbin and about We Love Minneapolis are demonstratively false.
What can you do to participate in Minneapolis Elections?
The best thing is for residents who want to have an impact on elections is to show up to caucuses and make sure their interests are represented. In 2025, caucuses are April 8th, at 7:00 pm. If you do not know where your caucuses will be held, you can look up the location here: Minneapolis DFL Caucus Locations At these meetings, residents will elect people to represent them at endorsing conventions to select the candidate that best represents the DFL values and interests. What starts at caucuses ends with deciding the city’s direction for the next four years.
Related: Outside Money Buying Influence in Minneapolis
Related: Who Funds Minneapolis for The Many?
Related: Who is Funding “All of Minneapolis?”
Related: Is Faith in Minnesota A Grassroots or Astroturf Organization?
I hope y’all in Minneapolis are finally going to caucus en masse! I am powerless in this process up here in Duluth, but am rooting for you. As Minneapolis goes, so goes the state of Minnesota.
Great journalism David!
We all love the wear our “I voted” stickers at election time. We should be wearing “I caucused” stickers!!!
Great idea!
Thank you for helping to flush this out, and to be an important fact checking resource. 👏