Hennepin County prosecutor candidates debate Moriarty's legacy
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Anders Folk, left, and Cedrick Frazier during a debate hosted by the Theater of Public Policy in Minneapolis. Photo: Kyle Stokes/Axios
Neither candidate in the Hennepin County Attorney's race wants to be the next Mary Moriarty — but each would carry forward parts of her approach if elected, interviews with Axios reveal.
The big picture: When she took office in 2023, Moriarty's less punitive, data-driven approach seemed exactly what the county wanted as it re-examined its justice system post-George Floyd.
- Even as crime numbers fell, Moriarty clashed with law enforcement and some victims' families over what they saw as her office's leniency.
- That raised questions about what comes next for the county's experiment with "progressive prosecution."
State of play: Former federal prosecutor Anders Folk has made criticism of Moriarty central to his campaign — and says his opponent, teachers union attorney Cedrick Frazier, would continue Moriarty's approach.
- Frazier campaigned for Moriarty in 2022.
"News alert: I'm not Mary Moriarty," Frazier countered during a recent debate, saying he'd take a different approach because he's been a crime victim.
- Frazier says he'd focus on holding offenders accountable — criticizing, for example, Moriarty's push to shorten the sentence of a man serving life for his role in a 2011 killing.
- Still, "we're not going to be able to arrest and incarcerate our way out of the situation," Frazier tells Axios.
- He points to the need for rehabilitation: "99% of these people are coming back into the community."
Folk says Moriarty tried to wear too many hats — that of "prosecutor, defense lawyer, judge, and social worker" — which he says hampered police efforts to get troublemakers off the streets.
- That said, Folk applauds Moriarty for attempting to reduce racial disparities in criminal case outcomes, even if those gaps haven't closed much during her tenure.
- If elected, "we need to focus like a laser on making sure that we are treating juveniles fairly," Folk tells Axios.
Between the lines: Frazier says Moriarty "doesn't have great relationships," but argues the strain began under her predecessors: former county attorneys Mike Freeman and now-Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
- Both are remembered as "tough-on-crime" prosecutors — and Frazier has called them both "mentors" to Folk.
- "I don't want to return to a status quo that failed," Frazier says.
Here, Folk also pushes back on attempts to typecast him, saying he wants to learn from the past.
- "Look, I'm not Mike Freeman; I'm Anders Folk," he says.
What we're watching: Frazier and Folk have pledged to carry forward Moriarty's attempts to prosecute ICE officers involved in Operation Metro Surge.