The election for Hennepin County attorney has received relatively little attention from a public focused on bigger statewide races and the national political climate. But the contest between former acting Minnesota U.S. Attorney Anders Folk and Democratic state Rep. Cedrick Frazier will decide who runs the state’s largest prosecutor’s office.

It contains echoes of the election four years ago, when voters elected reformer and former public defender Mary Moriarty over a more traditional law-and-order candidate.

Folk is a former military lawyer who later worked as a federal prosecutor for both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations. He served as acting U.S. attorney during President Joe Biden’s administration.

Folk said he believes the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office went off the rails during Moriarty’s tenure. She was elected in 2022 in the wake of George Floyd’s killing amidst a surge of support for so-called reform prosecutors around the country.

”There's been a breakdown in the relationship between the county attorney's office and law enforcement,” Folk said. “We've had no strategy from the county attorney on how to deal with things like violent crime, organized crime, gun crime, gang crime.”

Folk said many of Moriarty’s decisions have seemed based on political calculus rather than the requirements of the law — Folk believes his opponent would continue on this path.

“I think there's been an overarching ideological approach to the office that has put results behind rhetoric,” Folk said. “And I think that’s a mistake. “

Frazier has worked as a public defender in Hennepin County, as well as an attorney for Minneapolis Public Schools and a labor attorney for the teachers union Education Minnesota. He said he’ll forge his own path as county attorney.

“It's important that we have a leader in this space that understands the lessons that we learned from the past to make sure that we don't go back to that,” Frazier said. “I've spent my entire career working to make sure that we can make the lives of Minnesotans better — and I think my next step up in this leadership role will do exactly that.”

Frazier said his focus is always going to be on preventative measures, intervention, accountability and rehabilitation.

“I don't make decisions based on whether or not it's politically advantageous. I don't make decisions based on whether or not it's popular,” Frazier said.

“I make decisions based on what is right, and that's listening to the community, working with them, not against them, and doing things that they want to see done — not just doing things to them and telling them it's the right thing that they need because I know best.”

Voters will choose between different prosecutorial approaches

Hamline University political science Professor David Schultz said even though Moriarty isn’t on the ballot, this election is somewhat of a referendum on her style and the social reforms she championed, which she has said are based on data and evidence.

“There is this tension of saying, ‘Do we push hard on sort of very traditional prosecutorial type of issues?’” Schultz said. “‘Or do we try to take alternative perspectives in terms of juvenile diversion programs, or other types of ways of trying to be preventative in terms of crime?’“

Both Folk and Frazier said they’d bring their relationship-building skills to the office, whether it’s with community leaders or police chiefs.

Folk has been endorsed by a number of local law enforcement leaders, including Sheriff Dawanna Witt, as well as by more moderate Democrats like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Rep. Angie Craig.

“Being a good prosecutor means being a minister of justice, and that means you have to focus on enforcement, and you have to focus on ensuring the right consequence for the right person in every case,” Folk said.

“But you also have to focus on what I think of as the other side of the coin, which is compassion and ensuring that we're doing everything we can to keep people out of the criminal justice system. “

Frazier came in first in the nonpartisan primary for the office and received the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party endorsement. He’s endorsed by more progressive Democrats including state Attorney General Keith Ellison, U.S. Sen. Tina Smith and U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar.

“It's because of the way that I work with people, the way that I build relationships, and the relationships that I built,” Frazier said.

“People know that even when I have disagreements with folks, I'm going to make sure I bring those people in the room to have the conversation, to bring people together, to come up with solutions that are going to work to make everybody safe.”

Folk points out that Frazier doesn’t have any direct experience working as a prosecutor. Frazier says he’ll bring his experience on the civil side and in criminal defense to the role.

“We have line attorneys that will do the day-to-day work, enforcing the law, charging cases, prosecuting cases — my role as a leader will be to manage that office, get everybody going in the same direction,” Frazier said.

“I'm looking forward to getting everybody on the same page, figuring out what we need to make sure they have the best work environment, have the resources they need, and then moving forward together.”

Frazier questions Folk’s decision to work under Trump’s first administration. Folk said he’s worked as a career prosecutor across both Republican and Democratic administrations, but sees the Trump administration as a “disaster.”

“I always tell people, when you call 911, you're not calling for a Republican cop or a Democratic cop,” Folks said. “You're calling for a police officer because you need help right now — fundamentally, I think that's why this is a nonpartisan race.”

Although both candidates said they’ll continue Moriarty’s strategy of prosecuting federal agents who broke Minnesota laws during the federal government’s surge into the state this winter, Frazier said Folk took too long to speak out on the issue and criticized Folk for his service in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota under President Donald Trump’s first administration. Folks’ campaign says he responded to ICE throughout the surge into Minnesota, including during a mid-January interview with NPR News.

Although it’s an important race with real implications for Hennepin County residents, Schultz said it seems like many voters aren’t yet paying attention because their focus is on the races for Senate and governor. Folk has raised more than four times as much money as Frazier, according to campaign finance reports.

“You never want to say money never matters, of course, but money does matter in the sense that it still pays for get-out-the-vote operations,” Schultz said. “But with the local race, a lot of it is just going to be reminding people to show up and vote.”

Collected from Minnesota Public Radio News. View original source here.