This is the office that in some states is called the District Attorney; the County Attorneys in MN are the chief prosecutors for state-level crimes. The current Hennepin County Attorney, Mary Moriarty, is not running again. (In Ramsey County, John Choi is unopposed.)
On the ballot:
I wrote about both candidates during the primary. I noted that Anders Folk’s endorsements were a rogue’s gallery of my least favorite Minneapolis-area politicians, that he accepted the maximum campaign contribution from someone who prosecuted a case that was rife with gross misconduct, and made no commitment to maintaining the HCA’s Conviction Integrity Unit. Anders Folk is 100% the choice of the faction that would say with self-righteousness rather than irony that the law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike from sleeping under bridges. I noted that Cedrick Frazier, like Mary Moriarty, has worked as a public defender; he’s DFL-endorsed and also has endorsements from all the high-profile progressives; and his website includes an explicit commitment to continue reviewing wrongful convictions.
I do also want to talk about some of the other things I’ve learned about Anders Folk since the primary.
- He’s presented himself as the best person to prosecute ICE and yet he has also campaigned with MN House District 45A Republican Andrew Myers. Myers presents himself as a centrist, but skipped a vote (despite being in the building!) on a bill to rein in ICE agents that would, among other things, have required the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to investigate shootings and uses of force involving federal agents.
Folk has been wooing Republicans since he got in the race. His text messages to suburban voters don’t mention prosecuting ICE. Why on earth would anyone trust him to prosecute the ICE agents who shot Minnesotans dead on the street last January?
2. Folk is a partner at Jones Day. While a lot of big law firms represent a lot of terrible people, Jones Day manages to stand out. Local lawyer Ryan D. Peterson made a video (shared on Bluesky) talking about Jones Day and why working for Jones Day is another reason not to trust Anders Folk: this is the law firm that “represented Experian for decades. This is a law firm and a company that’s made it their mission to trample on the rights of individual consumers.” They also immediately rehired their former partner Yaakov Roth, who spent a year doing things like defending Trump’s ballroom.
ETA 10/19 Some additional information on Jones Day, courtesy of a reader: “Jones Day is also the central case study of a recent book literally titled Servants of the Damned and just the blurb lists plenty more than Ryan covered, ‘Jones Day helped Trump fend off the Mueller investigation and challenged Obamacare. Its once and future lawyers defended Trump’s Muslim ban and border policies and handled his judicial nominations. The firm has for decades represented Big Tobacco in its fight to avoid liability for its products. Jones Day worked tirelessly for the Catholic Church as it tried to minimize its sexual-abuse scandals. And for Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, as it sought to protect its right to make and market its dangerously addictive drug. And for Fox News as it waged war against employees who were the victims of sexual harassment and retaliation. And for Russian oligarchs as their companies sought to expand internationally.'” Again: Folk is a partner. That means he doesn’t just work there, he’s one of the owners and shares in the decision making.
3. Ryan D. Peterson also has a video talking about Folk’s claims about his extensive prosecutorial experience. “I did a deep dive. And it doesn’t look like he has tried a criminal case to a jury since George W. Bush was president. That’s 2008. And even back then, I could only find like eight or nine cases that he was actually a prosecutor on.” In a response to the video, a lawyer and former prosecutor who lives in Hennepin County wrote a thoughtful thread talking about how all the best prosecutors she worked with have defense experience; also, the County Attorney is primarily a manager. (“The county attorney isn’t trying cases, they’re a manager. They set policy for the office. They manage a lineup of incredibly hard working attorneys who try the shit out of cases whether they win and lose. They have to liaise with all kinds of offices. […] As county attorney, Cedrick Frazier and Anders Folk probably won’t go into court frequently, but they will determine how DWI offers are made. They’ll be in the meetings with adult protection on crypto scams on seniors. They’ll deal with problem properties out in the burbs. They’ll meet with the head of the public defenders office when there are relationships that need building. They’ll manage treatment courts and help DV shelters with ongoing issues. If I’m choosing between a legislator with defense experience or a federal prosecutor who only ever worked for Republicans, I’m choosing the legislator every time. I don’t think Anders can build the relationships Frazier already has. Frazier has depth and breadth because of his legislative and defense experience.”)
4. Speaking of problem properties out in the burbs, a landlord group is aggressively fundraising for Folk.
5. There’s also the fact that Anders Folk worked as a Federal Prosecutor under Trump. I also find it concerning that he went to work as a Federal Prosecutor originally under the George W. Bush administration.
I would vote for Cedrick Frazier.
ETA: I got a comment (you can scroll down and read it if you want) from an Anders Folk supporter who wanted to complain about the fact that I nearly always back the progressive Democrat over the centrist. (“I’m concerned that you almost always favor the progressive candidate over the liberal candidate. […] I hope you’ll at least consider an alternative approach. Maybe start by just picking one future campaign and see if you can bring yourself to recommend a non-Team Progressive candidate?”) She said she tried to vote for “what was best for the electorate.”
I replied to her, but I wanted to add this to the main post. I am a progressive. I don’t hide my personal bias(es). And I do not think it is best for the electorate to have the sort of County Attorney who deals with high-profile murderers by finding some guy to blame it on, whether he did the crime or not. I do not think it is best for the electorate to have the sort of County Attorney who refuses to prosecute cops for anything short of literal murder committed on camera. Folk has very much campaigned on the idea that he’ll be more like Amy Klobuchar and Mike Freeman. “being more like Amy Klobuchar and Mike Freeman.” He’s made it absolutely clear that this is the kind of County Attorney he’d be. And that’s not remotely what I want!
And the fact that this IS apparently what so many of the local centrists want, or at least are willing to tolerate in exchange for someone who will be more aggressive about locking up 14-year-old car thieves — that right there is a great illustration of why I am not super interested in their opinions about which candidates would do a better job for Minneapolis and St. Paul.
(Vote for Cedrick Frazier for County Attorney, and vote for Amy Klobuchar for Governor because for all the many reasons I dislike Amy, she’ll be significantly better for the state than Lisa Demuth.)
ETA 10/26: Racket has a new story about Anders Folk; here’s a gift link. Among the things they note: “The New York Times reported that [Jones Day] has been ‘dedicated not just to helping Republicans win elections but to helping them achieve their political aims once in office.’ An analysis from the Columbia Journalism Review further reports that Folk’s firm has become the top choice for corporate executives seeking to counter labor unionization efforts within their workplaces, which explains why no labor unions have endorsed his County Attorney campaign.” Here’s a gift link to the 2022 NYT piece about Jones Day.
People have tried making the claim that the County Attorney isn’t a political office. Maybe in an ideal world it wouldn’t be a political office. But the Republican party has fully embraced its identity as the Cops Shouldn’t Ever Experience Consequences For Shooting Unarmed People (Especially Unarmed Black People) Party, so here we are. The policy choices made by the County Attorney have huge knock-on effects, especially around the force cops feel entitled to use at the drop of a hat. VOTE FOR CEDRICK FRAZIER.
This seems like a good year to fundraise for a trans nonprofit, so I’m fundraising this year for TIGERRS. I don’t have a Patreon, and a fundraiser lets me see in a tangible way that people value my work, which is really helpful as a motivator. (This project is a lot of work.) I raised $7,230 during primary season so I’ve raised the goal.
I also have a new book out! Obstetrix is about an obstetrician who gets kidnapped by a cult because they want someone on hand to deliver their babies; it’s a story about enduring, surviving, and not giving up. You can buy it anywhere fine books are sold, and I’ve been doing my best to keep Uncle Hugo’s, Moon Palace, and Dreamhaven Books in signed copies.
The link for Folk campaigning with Myers looks like it’s just Myers thanking Folk for “taking the time to connect.” Like they had a meeting and then Myers posted about it. Was there more to it than that?
Here’s a link to the actual FB post: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1463393492280371&set=a.290498766236522 — I mean, this looks to me like the sort of post you see after a joint event of some kind, not just a meeting.
Hi Naomi,
I appreciate all the work you put into all these recommendations, but I’m concerned that you almost always favor the progressive candidate over the liberal candidate. We all know there are two local DFL sub-groups, and you consistently start with picking the candidate from your favored sub-group and then find a rationale to support that position. My only aim here is to share a friendly thought to see if you might break that pattern.
I used to follow the same pattern as you, but it occurred to me that it’s worth a go to try to think a little more critically. Where I landed was voting super left for state-wide seats because progressives are most likely to pass legislation for our neediest, and voting for knowledge and experience for city council and school board seats for the same reasons. Leftist candidates for school board, for example, prioritize union agendas over the needs of children living in poverty. If the two happen to overlap, great, but it’s clearly union first and kids second. I think it should be kids first and all adult agendas, whatever they may be, second.
This new way of thinking has led me to vote for candidates that both DFL sub-teams endorse. The idea is to prioritize what’s best for the electorate rather than prioritizing the peculiarities of team membership. Specific to this race, I voted for Hao Nguyen in the primary because he had the most relevant experience. Unfortunately he didn’t pick up a team endorsement so he had no shot. For the general, I’m voting for Folk for the same reason. The relevant experience issue isn’t even close as Frazier has virtually no prosecutorial experience. I think Frazier is smart and impressive and wouldn’t be disappointed if he won. But let’s be clear: Folk is not a Republican, and Frazier is not a Moriarty rubber stamp. That’s just sub-team/PAC speak.
Anyway, I hope you’ll at least consider an alternative approach. Maybe start by just picking one future campaign and see if you can bring yourself to recommend a non-Team Progressive candidate?
I have, on occasion, endorsed the less-progressive candidate because I thought they had a better shot in the statewide race (Tim Walz over Erin Murphy was probably the biggest); I endorsed a candidate who had not been endorsed by the the teacher’s union or the DFL for school board four years ago (Emerick). But I am a progressive. I don’t hide my personal bias. People who don’t like my opinions should absolutely feel free to ignore my blog.
And Folk has campaigned with a Republican, he’s the choice of the Republicans, he is a partner (i.e. a partial owner!) for a Republican law firm that does Republican work and defends absolutely godawful corporations. I do not think it is best for the electorate to have the sort of County Attorney who deals with high-profile murderers by finding some guy to blame it on, whether he did the crime or not. (See: Marvin Haynes.) I do not think it is best for the electorate to have the sort of County Attorney who refuses to prosecute cops for anything short of literal murder committed on camera. (See: Derek Chauvin’s extensive record of brutality prior to 2020.) Folk has very much campaigned on “being more like Amy Klobuchar and Mike Freeman.” He’s made it absolutely clear that this is the kind of County Attorney he’d be.
That is not remotely what I want. And the fact that this IS apparently what so many people on “Team Liberal” want (or at least are willing to tolerate in exchange for someone who will be more aggressive about locking up 14-year-old car thieves) is EXACTLY why I am not super interested in their opinions about which candidates would do a better job for Minneapolis and St. Paul.
I want to be fair to you. There’s nothing wrong with being a progressive. I’m a progressive too in my values. What rankles me is how, in seemingly every local election these days, values, whatever they may be, get subverted to people just wanting their team to win.
Progressive values would dictate a completely different set of solutions to K-12 education, for example, other than always prioritizing the agenda of Ed. Minnesota. Somehow the state teachers’ union has aligned with the left, but what they advocate for is inconsistent with prioritizing the needs of kids in poverty over the needs of adults. It took decades for the unions to finally give in on a seniority policy which drove an absurdly white teaching force in districts such as St. Paul and Minneapolis in which the majority of students were non-white. That’s regressive, not progressive. Peggy Flanagan has made the point about the importance of a diverse teaching force effectively in her campaign.
So that’s my challenge: Yes, stay true to your values, but break with your team when it applies. Perhaps Frazier vs. Folk isn’t the right break for you – Frazier’s case is built on relationship-building and Folk’s is built on prosecutorial experience. I think the latter is more important, but fair enough – I respect your decision, and again I have no problems with Frazier winning. It’s a close call for me.
Having said that, there have been past opportunities and there will be future opportunities to stick with progressive values which will lead you to break with Team Progressive candidates.
Here is a gift link to a (long) NYT article on Jones Day, and the amount of work they have done toward the goals of Trump (and other Republicans before him):
And I just want to reiterate that Anders Folk is a Partner at Jones Day; he is a part-owner. He’s either a Republican, or he’s so utterly divorced from moral principle that this should also be disqualifying.
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Hi Naomi,
Looking into publicly available political donation records, Anders Folk has donated to multiple DFL campaigns over the years, and to zero Republicans. Were you aware of this? Seems odd that a Republican would consistently put up money for Democrats and never Republican, does it not?
OK, I went and looked him up at Open Secrets and I found four total donations made this century (he may have made additional smaller ones that weren’t reported.) Two of them, made in 2007 and 2008, were to congressional candidate Ashwin Madia; they appear to have served in the US Marine Corps as Judge Advocates at the same time, so my guess is that they knew each other personally. Which is fine, to be clear, but that does not actually say all that much about his political views.
Then there’s nothing until 2025. At the very end of 2025, he made a $500 donation to Kelly Morrison, and at the beginning of 2026 he made a $1500 donation to the DFL. That’s great, but he was, at that point, running for office and looking to burnish his DFL credentials.
So no, nothing here seems particularly odd for a Republican who’s running for office in Hennepin County. I double checked with the FEC.GOV site and didn’t find any contributions that Open Secrets had missed. And I ran a couple of comparative searches on various people I know who are not in politics, not running for office, and not making “law firm partner” money to see how they stack up and most of them, in fact, have given way more times, and way more money.
I’ll just point this out again: he is a PARTNER at JONES DAY. He is a part-owner at a law firm that specializes in, among other things, union busting. You can keep telling yourself that he’s a Democrat and that will not make him a Democrat.
Hi Naomi,
I don’t dispute that the donation to Madia was potentially because they knew each other personally, but I’ll ask you this: would you ever donate $500 to a coworker for their political campaign if you didn’t agree with them politically? I certainly wouldn’t. ~20 years working for a Republican DOJ and conservative law firms, and he never met another Republican running for some kind of office to donate to?
I’ve been reading your guides for the last few elections and I truly do appreciate the work you do here. Only a handful of people in the Twin Cities have the patience to watch all those random candidate forums, read through a million campaign websites, and ask Republicans what they think of the 2020 election (has anyone ever said Joe Biden won it?) But I have to echo what was said in another comment where it feels that you work backwards to an endorsement. Of course, this is your personal blog and it’s your right to have and share your opinions, but calling it an “election guide” implies a certain level of objectivity and non-bias that isn’t always present. For what it’s worth, I know that you wouldn’t even disagree with that statement.
The idea that this election, where an endorsed Democrat is running against a guy who served as a US Attorney under GWB, left the job after Obama took office, then served again under Trump, and left after Biden took office to become a partner at the “call us for all your union-busting needs” law firm, that THIS election is one where I worked backwards to justify my endorsement: lol. lmao.
If you believe that Anders Folk is the one who will competently and diligently prosecute the ICE agents who assaulted, kidnapped, and murdered Minnesotans, you are lying to yourself.
And I would not donate $500 to someone I didn’t agree with, but (a) that was 19 years ago, a 19-year-old donation says a lot less about his current views than his partnership at Jones Day does, and (b) lots of people do. Ward 7 Council Rep (and enthusiastic Anders Folk supporter) Elizabeth Shaffer donated $5,000 to a Republican congressional campaign, and insisted that this did not demonstrate she had Republican views because the candidate was her brother.
Re me calling it an election guide: do you have a suggestion for an alternate term?