Abu Nayeem is a data specialist who prefers to be referred to as a crusader, if not a superhero, on the streets of Frogtown. His superpower? “The ability to empower others,” said Nayeem, who posts pictures of himself striking heroic poses in a green frog suit on his campaign website.

“I’m running as a serious candidate and as a local superhero,” said Nayeem. “This is an aspect of getting youth engaged. Normally, when we run for office, we look only at who votes, but we’re not getting youth involved in the process. According to the data, 60-to-70 year-olds are the greatest voting bloc.”

He’s not the only community leader to be bit by the political bug. The self-declared “Frogtown crusader” is campaigning for St. Paul City Council, as are 27 other candidates in November’s ranked-choice election.

CAMPAIGN FILINGS CLOSED EARLIER THIS MONTH

Campaign filings closed Aug. 13 and Aug. 15 was the last day to withdraw from the ballot.

On St. Paul’s East Side, Ward 7 candidate David Thom said he’s feeling frustrated with the many costly lawsuits the city has weathered. Thom pointed to an $800,000 legal settlement paid out a few years ago to a coffee shop vendor at Como Park’s Black Bear Crossings on the Lake, and a more recent question over whether the city’s aquatics division violated the city’s own paid sick leave policy by not allowing a lifeguard to call in sick.

Then there’s the city’s decision to organize trash collection for the first time since the 1970s, which has inspired at least a handful of fellow candidates onto the ballot. “I think the citywide system is good, but I think they made a lot of mistakes,” said Thom, owner of The Groomsmen dog grooming shop in South Minneapolis.

Marketing consultant Lindsay Ferris Martin has organized buying parties, or “cash mobs,” for small businesses she supports while speaking out against businesses that have drawn police attention. She said nine of her neighbors moved off her block this year, and after a stabbing and drive-by shooting in the area, she and her husband considered giving up on St. Paul and joining them.

Like at least a handful of other candidates in the ward races, she argues against higher-density rezonings that she believes could reduce the number of affordable single-family homes in her area. She called the stakes in the Ward 2 race virtually life or death.

“The charms of the West Side are slowly starting to dissipate and the fight to keep what we love best about our ward has become harder and harder to fight for,” said Ferris Martin, in a written statement.

“We watched the neighborhood we once considered peaceful and a perfect place to start a family, become the very same place that would threaten the lives of the ones we care most about,” she said.

SEVEN POLITICAL WARDS

The city is divided into seven political wards and each of them will host council races featuring anywhere from two to six candidates. There will be no political primary to whittle down the field.

While the St. Paul DFL has already endorsed candidates in most races — and Libertarian, Socialist, Green Party and Republican activists have also joined the fray — the ballot is officially non-partisan. Party affiliations will not be listed.

In short, there are some cantankerous debates ahead. Among the first, the St. Paul Republican City Committee was scheduled to host a candidate forum, open to all candidates, from 1 to 3 p.m. Aug. 24 at 1399 Eustis St.

Here’s a look at who’s running for a four-year term.

WARD 1

The racially-diverse Green Line corridor spanning Frogtown, Summit University and part of Union Park is home to a new Major League Soccer stadium and the northern terminus of Ayd Mill Road, which the mayor said will be reconfigured next year to add a pedestrian thoroughfare and bike lanes.

City Council Member Dai Thao, who was held the seat since winning a special election in Nov. 2013, faces three challengers: Nayeem, Rondo advocate and NAACP activist Anika Bowie and Liz De La Torre, an employee of St. Paul-Ramsey County Public Health who works with survivors of sexual assault.

The race has already drawn hard feelings and accusations of impropriety.

Thao won the St. Paul DFL endorsement in April after Bowie and De La Torre led a walk-out of the Ward 1 convention, citing voting irregularities. Bowie later filed a complaint with the state party, but it was dismissed on the basis of a lack of evidence.

WARD 2

Ward 2, which spans some of the city’s fastest-growing and most commercial neighborhoods, includes downtown St. Paul, the West Side, and parts of Grand Avenue, Summit Hill and West Seventh Street.

The second-busiest race of the campaign season will feature five candidates for the seat currently held by City Council Member Rebecca Noecker, who is seeking re-election to a second term.

In addition to Noecker, who holds the DFL endorsement, contenders include perennial candidate Sharon Anderson, art gallery and cafe owner Bill Hosko, marketing consultant Lindsay Ferris Martin and Socialist activist Helen Meyers.

WARD 3

Ward 3 spans Highland Park and Mac-Groveland, some of the more affluent corners of the city, yet transitional areas line West Seventh Street, where a new Aldi supermarket is under construction.

The redevelopment of 122 acres of vacant land at the site of the former Ford auto plant off Ford Parkway could draw upwards of 4,000 new residents.

Chris Tolbert, an attorney in Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman’s office, is completing his second term in office. Tolbert, who holds the DFL endorsement, faces challenger Patricia Hartmann, who has been an attorney in private practice for 35 years.

Hartmann has been a key organizer of a petition drive to get a question on the November ballot that could potentially block the city’s current approach toward organized trash collection.

WARD 4

Running largely along the Green Line, Ward 4 spans St. Anthony Park, Hamline-Midway, Merriam Park and parts of Mac-Groveland and Como.

The ward, which reaches to the Minneapolis border, includes long stretches of University Avenue and Snelling Avenue near Allianz Field, areas experiencing fresh residential growth and real estate redevelopment.

Council Member Mitra Nelson, who won her seat in a special election last September, has received the DFL endorsement and will again be on the ballot, as will Libertarian Party of Minnesota chairman Chris Holbrook and Tarrence Robertson-Bayless, a major in the Minnesota Army National Guard who recently returned from deployment in Kuwait.

Robertson-Bayless, a resident of Marshall Avenue, announced his candidacy not long after Nelson championed an effort to rezone West Marshall Avenue for denser housing. He has been critical of the rezoning plan.

WARD 5

Ward 5 spans parts of Como, the North End, Railroad Island and Payne-Phalen — in short, a mix of some of the poorest and more affluent corners of the city.

In addition to concerns about crime and property values, North End residents have long debated how to calm traffic while still supporting small businesses along Rice Street. Discussions about an upcoming county road project will resume in the fall.

City Council President Amy Brendmoen, first elected in 2011, is seeking re-election to a third term.

Alexander Bourne says policies need to reflect who we are as a community. Without alley plowing on the East Side, many can’t get to work. “I’m tired of being bullied. Don’t you all feel bullied by the city council?” (Audience claps) pic.twitter.com/x4zKnq8rN2 — FredMelo, Reporter (@FrederickMelo) August 24, 2019

Her three challengers include community organizer Suyapa Miranda, solar energy business owner Bob Blake, and Jamie Hendricks, who runs the North End Free Pantry and has vocally opposed the city’s approach toward organized trash collection.

WARD 6

Ward 6 spans the city’s northeast corners toward Maplewood, from Payne-Phalen to the Greater East Side. When Council Member Dan Bostrom announced his early retirement last December after 22 years in office, the council lost its most conservative member, and the race for the Ward 6 seat blew wide open.

But that wasn’t the only surprise in store.

In January, the city council appointed Kassim Busuri — the council’s first Somali-American member and one of its few Muslim members — to hold the seat on an interim basis, with the expectation he would not run in the November election.

A few weeks later, he announced he would enter the race anyway, angering most of his fellow council members.

In all, six candidates have filed for the Ward 6 seat: Busuri, entrepreneur Alexander Bourne, TakeAction Minnesota organizer Nelsie Yang, former Planning Commission member Terri Thao, Republican activist Greg Copeland and community organizer Danielle Swift, who is running under the Green Party banner. No candidate received the DFL endorsement in April, though Thao and Yang were locked in a close contest.

WARD 7

Ward 7 spans racially and economically diverse East Side neighborhoods such as Dayton’s Bluff, Swede Hollow, Mounds Park, Battle Creek, Conway and Highwood.

Council Member Jane Prince, who holds the DFL endorsement, is seeking re-election to a second term.

She faces three challengers: Mary Anne Quiroz, the founder of the Indigenous Roots Cultural Center; Thom, the owner of the Groosman dog grooming shop; and Dayton’s Bluff resident Kartumu King, who said she is currently unemployed and declined to elaborate on her platform in a brief phone conversation.