Aswar Rahman

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Aswar Rahman
Democratic Party
Elections and appointments
Last election
August 11, 2026
Education
High school
Minneapolis Southwest High School
Bachelor's
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Personal
Profession
User experience designer and filmmaker
Contact
Campaign website

Aswar Rahman (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Minnesota's 4th Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic primary on August 11, 2026.

Rahman was a candidate for mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was defeated in the general election on November 7, 2017. Although municipal elections in Minneapolis are officially nonpartisan, candidates can choose a party affiliation to appear on the ballot.[1] Rahman ran as a DFL candidate.[2]

Biography

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Rahman earned a B.A. in history from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. His experience includes work in the office of then-Mayor R.T. Rybak and as a filmmaker, the director of web services for Triangle Park Creative, and the founder of the user experience and web development company Eloquent Design.[3][4]

Elections

2026

See also: Minnesota's 4th Congressional District election, 2026

Minnesota's 4th Congressional District election, 2026 (August 11 Democratic primary)

Minnesota's 4th Congressional District election, 2026 (August 11 Republican primary)

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

General election for U.S. House Minnesota District 4

Incumbent Betty McCollum (D) and Paul Wikstrom (R) are running in the general election for U.S. House Minnesota District 4 on November 3, 2026.

Candidate
Image of Betty McCollum
Betty McCollum (D)
Image of Paul Wikstrom
Paul Wikstrom (R)  Candidate Connection

Incumbents are bolded and underlined.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary

Democratic primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 4

Incumbent Betty McCollum (D) defeated Aswar Rahman (D) in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 4 on August 11, 2026.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Betty McCollum
Betty McCollum
 
85.7
 
93,798
Image of Aswar Rahman
Aswar Rahman
 
14.3
 
15,622

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. Vote totals may change until results are certified. Source 1 Source 2

Total votes: 109,420
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary

Republican primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 4

Paul Wikstrom (R) defeated Paul Xiong (R) and Gene Rechtzigel (R) in the Republican primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 4 on August 11, 2026.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Paul Wikstrom
Paul Wikstrom  Candidate Connection
 
72.6
 
20,380
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Paul Xiong
 
16.9
 
4,734
Image of Gene Rechtzigel
Gene Rechtzigel
 
10.5
 
2,955

There were no incumbents in this race. Vote totals may change until results are certified. Source 1 Source 2

Total votes: 28,069
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

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2020

See also: Minnesota state legislative special elections, 2020

General election

Special general election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 60A

Sydney Jordan defeated Martin Super in the special general election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 60A on February 4, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Sydney Jordan (D)
 
87.4
 
1,879
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Martin Super (Legal Marijuana Now Party)
 
11.5
 
247
 Other/Write-in votes
 
1.1
 
23

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 2,149
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Special Democratic primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 60A

The following candidates ran in the special Democratic primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 60A on January 21, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Sydney Jordan
 
28.5
 
1,318
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Jessica Intermill
 
21.1
 
976
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Sonia Neculescu
 
17.2
 
792
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Amal Ibrahim
 
7.4
 
342
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Aaron Neumann
 
5.8
 
269
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Zachary Wefel
 
3.9
 
179
Image of Aswar Rahman
Aswar Rahman
 
3.8
 
175
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Susan Whitaker
 
3.7
 
171
Image of Saciido Shaie
Saciido Shaie
 
3.4
 
157
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Piyali Nath Dalal
 
3.2
 
149
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Mohamed Issa Barre
 
1.9
 
89

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 4,617
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Legal Marijuana Now Party primary election

Special Legal Marijuana Now Party primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 60A

Martin Super advanced from the special Legal Marijuana Now Party primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 60A on January 21, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Martin Super
 
100.0
 
69

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 69
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Campaign finance

2017

See also: Mayoral election in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2017) and Municipal elections in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2017)

Minneapolis, Minnesota, held a general election for mayor, all 13 seats on the city council, both elected members of the board of estimate and taxation, and all nine members of the park and recreation board on November 7, 2017. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was August 15, 2017.

Incumbents ran for re-election to all but two of the city council seats. Ward 3 Councilman Jacob Frey filed to run for mayor instead, and Ward 8 Councilwoman Elizabeth Glidden opted not to run for re-election.[5]

Minneapolis Mayor, 2017, Round 5
Candidate Vote % Votes Transfer
Betsy Hodges (i) - Eliminated 0% 0 −26,875
Raymond Dehn 42.8% 34,971 7,613
Al Flowers 0% 0 0
Jacob Frey - Winner 57.2% 46,716 7,348
Tom Hoch 0% 0 0
Gregg Iverson 0% 0 0
Nekima Levy-Pounds 0% 0 0
Aswar Rahman 0% 0 0
Charlie Gers 0% 0 0
L.A. Nik 0% 0 0
Troy Benjegerdes 0% 0 0
Ron Lischeid 0% 0 0
David Rosenfeld 0% 0 0
Ian Simpson 0% 0 0
Captain Jack Sparrow 0% 0 0
David John Wilson 0% 0 0
Christopher Robin Zimmerman (Write-in) 0% 0 0
Theron Preston Washington (Write-in) 0% 0 0
Undeclared Write-ins 0% 0 0
Exhausted 22,835 11,914
Total Votes 104,522 0
Note: Negative numbers in the transfer total are due to exhaustion by overvotes.


Legend:     Eliminated in current round     Most votes     Lost






This is the first round of voting. To view subsequent rounds, click the [show] button next to that round.

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Aswar Rahman did not complete Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Aswar Rahman did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2017

Rahman's campaign website highlighted the following issues:

“

Coming from a family of small business owners, Aswar knows this fundamental fact: there is no excuse for not being ready. Even though things rarely go exactly as planned, having an intelligent, realistic plan is crucial to progress.

Minneapolis’ needs are primarily in three departments.

PART ONE: ECONOMY
Aswar’s economic plan is the first step in building Minneapolis into a robust, equitable city. The biggest obstacle is our staggering poverty rate. Aswar’s plan:

  1. Free up $70m per year in city budget.
  2. Reserve 25% of that new fund.
  3. Invest $10m per year in MCTC low-income enrollment
  4. Invest $20m per year in universal pre-school enrollment
  5. Invest $10m per year in small business job grants
  6. Invest $5m per year in year-round youth employment
  7. Invest $5m per year in Empty Storefronts Grant
  8. Create annual assessment for minimum wage implementation

READ THE FULL ECONOMIC PLAN

PART TWO: SAFETY
Aswar’s innovations in public safety revolve around a smart reform of our policing methods.

  1. Create Civilian Majority on Review Panels
  2. Excercise Mayoral Authority to discipline or dismiss consistently unprofessional officers.
  3. Mandate Mayoral advocacy for civilian complaints.
  4. Partner with academic institution for data transparency and accessibility.
  5. Maintain direct whistleblower route to Mayor’s Office.
  6. Form a Non-Lethal Branch (NLB) to address low risk calls.
  7. Train supervisors to detect mental health issues in officers.
  8. Establish rotating 'light work' positions.
  9. Establish a doctrine of Constant Training.
  10. End self-insurance, require third-party professional liability insurance.
  11. Create residency incentive.
  12. Create youth employment positions within MPD.
  13. Launch career awareness campaign in public city school.
  14. Establish Mayoral responsibility for entirety of department.

READ THE FULL SAFETY PLAN

PART THREE: ENERGY
Aswar’s innovative Hundred Rooftops plan will transform Minneapolis into a clean energy leader.

100 rooftops.
288,304 solar panels.
10 Megawatts of power.
$8,661,798 of clean solar energy generated each year.

A system that pays for itself in under five years, generates civic revenue for decades, and most importantly, makes Minneapolis ten megawatts greener.

READ THE FULL ENERGY PLAN[6]

”
—Aswar Rahman's campaign website, (2017)[7]


Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

Aswar Rahman campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2026* U.S. House Minnesota District 4Lost primary$0 N/A**
Grand total$0 N/A**
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Election Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

See also

2026 Elections

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External links

Candidate

U.S. House Minnesota District 4
  • Website
    		•

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ MinnPost, "Minnesota Loves to Brag About Turnout. But Minneapolis and St. Paul Residents Are Actually Pretty Bad About Voting in Municipal Elections," July 7, 2017
    2. ↑ City of Minneapolis, "Official Ballot," accessed November 3, 2017
    3. ↑ LinkedIn, "Aswar Rahman," accessed October 24, 2017
    4. ↑ Aswar for Mayor, "Bio," accessed October 24, 2017
    5. ↑ Minneapolis Star Tribune, "Elizabeth Glidden Won't Seek Re-election to Minneapolis City Council," December 12, 2016
    6. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
    7. ↑ Aswar for Mayor, "Plan," accessed October 24, 2017


    Minnesota's current delegation to the United States Congress
    Senators
    Amy Klobuchar (D)
    Tina Smith (D)
    Representatives
    District 1
    District 2
    District 3
    District 4
    District 5
    District 6
    Tom Emmer (R)
    District 7
    District 8
    Democratic Party (6)
    Republican Party (4)



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