Frequently asked questions

Axe is short for Abdimajid — that's my full first name in Somali. The “X” is a Somali letter; it's a sound English doesn't have, so when names like mine get written in English the X usually drops out and you get “Abdimajid Ahmed.” When I went looking into my family history after college, I saw the original spellings — Axbdimajid Axmed — with the X put back where it belongs. I kept the letter English dropped. That's where Axe comes from.

All of them. My grandfather called me Majid. My mom calls me Abdimajid, or sometimes Ahmed. My in-laws call me Abs. Friends from middle school knew me as Abdi — or “tall Abdi,” because there were a lot of us. My basketball teammates called me Showtime. Some people knew me as Jed, short for “Jid.” I came into Axe when I came into myself.

The names aren't different people. They're a map of who knew me when. If you call me by a name you know me by, I still answer — and I still see you.

Axe is great. If we go back, use what you've always used. It's all me.

Like the tool. One syllable. Ax.

Axe Abdimajid Ahmed. Axe is what everyone's called me since John Marshall — look for Axe on the ballot.

Rochester. Grew up here, went through Rochester Public Schools, and met my wife here in middle school — we've been married thirteen years. I came back on purpose to build my life and raise our three kids here. We bought our home in 2022, in the same neighborhood I grew up in.

I'm a Rochester kid — son of Somali immigrants who came here with middle-school educations and outworked the room. I played Division I basketball at North Dakota State, and I'm a cancer survivor. I went to Georgetown for graduate school (MS, Business Analytics).

For years I've run Axlete and Axlete Consulting Group, helping people and organizations make sharper decisions — and that work kept revealing the same gap: the people who hold the data and the people who need it are never the same. So I built Parallax Intelligence to close it. It's the same gap this city has between City Hall and the people it serves.

I serve on the Rochester Downtown Alliance board and was appointed to the city's Planning and Zoning Commission.

I'm American. My heritage is Somali. Rochester is home.

I grew up here, went through Rochester Public Schools, graduated from John Marshall High School, met my wife here, came back on purpose, bought a home here, and I am raising my family here. This is not a stop on the way to somewhere else. This is where my life is rooted.

I carry my family's story with pride. My parents came here, worked hard, and gave us a chance to build a life. That story matters to me. But I am not running to represent one background, one language, or one community.

I am running to serve all of Rochester.

Every resident — no matter their background, income, neighborhood, age, language, or connection to power — deserves to be heard, seen, and served.

I'm running for a nonpartisan seat, which is the right way to run it. What I care about is whether the work gets done, whether residents can see how decisions are made, and whether the budget actually reflects the priorities people voted for. Those aren't partisan questions.

I'm a husband and a father of three — and that's about as specific as I'll get publicly. Our kids didn't sign up to run for mayor; we did.

In an age of deepfakes and identity theft, protecting our children's privacy was foundational for our family long before this campaign. Technology should serve people, not expose them — especially kids. We'll bring that same instinct to City Hall: guarding residents' privacy and data the way we guard our own family's.

Because this is home, and Rochester residents deserve a City Hall that shows its work.

Too often, people speak up, send emails, attend meetings, and still do not know what happened next. Decisions feel too hidden, too slow, and too comfortable. Residents should not have to know the right person or dig through meeting packets just to understand what their city is doing.

I am running to put the receipts in front of people: what we spent, who benefited, who paid, what worked, what failed, and what we are doing next.

No more blank checks. No more “trust us.”

Measure it. Fix it. Report back.

Make city government easier to see, easier to understand, and harder to ignore.

That means replacing closed-door shortcuts and insider comfort with decision logs, published dashboards, public input tracking, and plain-English reporting that any resident can read for themselves.

That is why I built openRochester.

Residents should be able to see the bill, the map, who pays, who benefits, and what happens next. If City Hall makes a promise, residents should be able to track it. If a project changes price, residents should see it. If people speak up, they should know how their input was used.

I will do the homework so residents do not have to.

Neighbors first.

People who watched me grow up here. People raising kids here now. People who care about housing, taxes, schools, small businesses, public safety, transportation, and whether City Hall actually follows through.

I am grateful for every person who chooses to support this campaign, and endorsements will be shared as people are ready to make them public.

Our campaign finance reports will be public, and we are going further by holding ourselves to the same standard we will demand of City Hall. If I am asking City Hall to show its work, my campaign should show its work too.