Cedrick Frazier won the Hennepin County Attorney race Tuesday, Nov. 3. In the unofficial secretary of state results, Frazier had 254,458 votes and Anders Folk had 246,931. That's a margin of about 7,527 votes, or roughly 1.5 percentage points, in a county with well over half a million voters.
The race was called around 11 p.m. with all 395 precincts reporting. Folk conceded about then. "I think we're gonna miss this by just a little bit," he said, and he credited part of Frazier's win to the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party endorsement. Frazier called the result a mandate. "The people have sent a crystal clear message: we need forward-looking change," he said. He also promised to "fight for every person in this county who has ever felt that the system wasn't built for them."
The win makes history. Frazier is the first person of color, and the first Black man, elected Hennepin County Attorney.
This was an open seat. Mary Moriarty, the current county attorney, said in August that she would not run for a second term. That left a crowded field, and the August primary narrowed it to two Democrats, Frazier and Folk. Moriarty's relationship with law enforcement was rocky during her time in office, and it became an issue in the campaign.
Frazier is in his third term in the Minnesota House, representing District 43A, and he was the first Black person elected to the New Hope City Council, in 2018. Before politics he was a Hennepin County public defender. He also investigated discrimination cases in Minneapolis Public Schools' equity and diversity office and spent a decade as a staff attorney for Education Minnesota, the teachers union. During the campaign he said he would "secure convictions and send a clear message to Trump and his agents across the country that no person is above the law."
Folk, who lives in Minneapolis, is a Marine Corps veteran. He was a local prosecutor under Amy Klobuchar, then a federal prosecutor for 5 years on gang, terrorism, organized crime and violent crime cases. In 2021, under President Biden, he served as acting U.S. Attorney.
Why it matters here: the county attorney's office prosecutes adult felonies and juvenile cases across Hennepin County, Bloomington included. When Bloomington police refer a serious case, Frazier's office will decide whether to charge it and how. The results are still unofficial until they're canvassed.
