Five candidates who would like to be the next mayor of Minneapolis debated for the first time Wednesday at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. The office of mayor is non-partisan; however, all five candidates in this debate belong to the Democratic Farmer Labor Party and will seek its endorsement this summer.

At least one other person, Cam Winton, is expected to file as an independent candidate for mayor. Winton was present at Wednesday’s debate but did not participate. He is expected to join the other candidates in an April 3rd debate .

This is the first time in 20 years Minneapolis has had an open mayor’s race in which no incumbent is seeking reelection. Current three-term Mayor R.T. Rybak decided not to run again.

The DFL candidates, in alphabetical order, include Mark Andrew, Jackie Cherryhomes, Betsy Hodges, Don Samuels and Gary Schiff. University of Minnesota Prof. Larry Jacobs was the moderator of the debate.

Click to watch full debate video, interviews and read our live blog .

Video at top on left: The UpTake’s executive editor, Nick Coleman, interviews candidates Mark Andrew, Gary Schiff and Betsy Hodges.

Video at top on right: the full debate