Thursday afternoon, the Minneapolis City Council voted to approve its portion of a deal that sends nearly a half-billion dollars into a new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings.

Southwest Minneapolis' councilmembers were evenly split on the vote—Elizabeth Glidden (Ward 8) and Betsy Hodges (Ward 13) voted against, and John Quincy (Ward 12) and Meg Tuthill (Ward 10) voted to approve. Their positions had been known for some time, but Thursday's vote before the Council's Committee of the Whole was considered the final gate before city, state, and Vikings negotiators begin hammering out the nitty-gritty details in how the stadium gets built.

Unless one supportive councilmember changes their mind at the last minute, Thursday's 7-6 vote is expected to be repeated at Friday's formal council meeting.

The Southwest Journal has assembled statements and reactions from most councilmembers. 

“I am interested in the jobs, I am interested in the money that is being spent when people come to this city and I want to see it continue," Tuthill told the Journal. "This was not an easy vote. I don’t ever want to vote on something like this again.”

Despite the intense passions over whether or not the provision violated the city charter, Hodges said the council will move forward to make sure the deal will be implemented well.

"We are going to be charged with guiding one of the biggest economic development projects in our city," she said. "We are capable of doing it. We are capable of being 13 and the mayor on things that we were 7-6 a day before.