In response to the large candidate field, the Minneapolis Charter Commission approved a referendum increasing the filing fee from $20 to $500.

[3] Nekima Levy-Pounds, an attorney, civil rights activist, and former president of the Minneapolis NAACP, was one of the first candidates to begin their campaign, with an announcement on November 14, 2016.

City Council member Jacob Frey and filmmaker Aswar Rahman entered in early January, while State Representative Raymond Dehn and theatre executive Tom Hoch announced their campaigns in February.

[7] Ian Simpson ran under the platform of the Idea Party, which asks the citizens of Minneapolis to pitch in their own creative solutions for change.

With four rounds of elimination, Jacob Frey was announced as the winner on Wednesday, November 8, at 2 pm, 18 hours after the polls closed.