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City Cast Twin Cities

City Cast Twin Cities

 🗳️ Election of the decade

November 4, 2025

Happy Election Day, Twin Cities! I told Sean on Monday’s pod that I collect my “I voted” stickers on my living room mirror. I would love to see your red badges of civic pride today! Reply to this email with a pic of where you’re displaying your sticker. 🔴

What the Cities Are Talking About

A white cardboard box with the American flag on it and the word "Vote" sits on a table facing voters voting in individual booths.
Minneapolis residents vote at the Two Tower Condominiums. (Christopher Mark Juhn/Getty Images)

Things to Know Before You Vote (Or If You Already Did!)

St. Paul will decide the next mayor, in addition to voting on two ballot questions. Minneapolis will also vote for mayor, 13 council members, nine parks and recreation board members, and two Board of Estimation and Taxation representatives. Contributor Winter Keefer says Minneapolis is deciding the “election of the decade”. Listen to her on the show today. [🎧 City Cast Twin Cities]

  • Your rights: Did you know that in Minnesota, you have a right to take time off to vote? Your employer cannot require you to use PTO to do so. [MN Secretary of State]
  • Find your ward: Where am I? I mean that in the literal sense, not existentially. You can figure out which ward your neighborhood falls into using the cities’ searchable maps. [Minneapolis map / St. Paul map]
  • Find your polling place: Type in your address to figure out where you’ll vote. Heads up, Minneapolis, polling places for some precincts in Ward 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 have changed. [Bring Me The News]
  • St. Paul ballot questions: A fairly bureaucratic issue on St. Paul’s ballot could have very real and costly consequences for rule-breakers. If passed, the city could use "administrative citations” to, for example, crack down on the owner of the abandoned CVS in the Midway neighborhood. But opponents worry the city could issue expensive fees for minor infractions, like unshoveled snow. The other ballot question is a levy referendum on St. Paul Public Schools. [Star Tribune / St. Paul Public Schools]
  • Senate control at stake: In a special election, east metro and Wright County voters will decide which party controls the Minnesota Senate. The death of GOP Sen. Bruce Anderson and DFL Sen. Nicole Mitchell’s resignation leaves two seats empty. [Minnesota Reformer]
  • Undecided? Local TikToker @katgetsmoney asked the Minneapolis mayoral candidates their favorite coffee shops (as well as best restaurants and places to party). Now, I’m not saying you should decide your mayor this way, but it’s definitely illuminating. [TikTok]

Also Worth Your Time

Breathalyzers back on: Remember when the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension ordered police to stop using breathalyzer tests in case they were faulty? Well, BCA scientists reran the numbers and found that the control cylinder, the crux of the concern, worked just fine. The issue seems to lie with law enforcement incorrectly entering numbers. [Pioneer Press]

Challenger approaching: House Speaker Lisa Demuth, a Republican, is entering the gubernatorial ring. She helped topple the Democratic trifecta of 2023-2024. Her main appeal, most likely, will be that she’s the most “electable” GOP candidate in the race. Demuth is the state’s first Black House speaker and first Republican woman speaker, Michelle Griffith writes. [Minnesota Reformer]

Two blue cross street signs, one name "Lena Smith Blvd" and the second "E 36th St," during the day with a blue sky and green and yellow trees in the background.
The new Lena Smith Boulevard sign along West River Parkway. (Tiffany Bui/City Cast Twin Cities)

A good sign: Edmund Walton Boulevard in Minneapolis, named after the segregationist, has been renamed in honor of Minnesota’s first Black female attorney, Lena Olive Smith. Her legacy of fighting housing discrimination now stands tall in Longfellow. Neighbors have been fighting for this change since 2020. [MPR]

“It’s very intimidating”: The federal government no longer automatically recognizes women and racial minorities as “socially disadvantaged,” which presents a barrier for St. Paul minority business owners in getting government contracts. About 14 percent of the city’s contract dollars went to minority- and women-owned businesses, according to a 2025 study. [Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder]

Buggy Halloween: Local musician Aby Wolf won First Avenue’s costume contest, dressed as a centipede. Great job, Aby, I was duly creeped out. [Star Tribune]

Your next listen: Local author Addie Zierman’s first book, “When We Were on Fire,” is now an audio drama podcast! City Cast senior roving producer Lizzie Goldsmith adapted the coming-of-age memoir and turned it into a dramatization of Zierman’s story growing up “on fire for God” as an evangelical poster child in the ’90s. [When We Were on Fire Podcast]

What to Do

Tuesday, November 4

Wednesday, November 5

Thursday, November 6

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A crossword puzzle with a black box in the second bottom row.

Our host Sean McPherson whipped up a crossword where all the answers are Minneapolis or St. Paul street names. Can you get them all? Also, a warm welcome to Benjamin K., the newest Neighbor in our membership program. We’ll see ya tomorrow.

— Tiffany

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