Disclosure
The publisher of this site, Dave Madgett, has personally endorsed Anders Folk in this race. That endorsement — and the reasons for it — live on their own page, not here. This guide follows the same rule as every guide in this series: objective facts and law, every statement sourced or omitted, both candidates presented in the same structure with the same scrutiny. Read it and make up your own mind.
The race in one paragraph
Hennepin County Attorney is an open seat on the November 3, 2026 ballot. Incumbent Mary Moriarty announced on August 7, 2025 that she would not seek a second term, saying "I want to focus on running the office, rather than running for office" (Hennepin County Attorney's Office announcement, Aug. 7, 2025). Five candidates ran in the August 11, 2026 nonpartisan primary; the top two advanced. The general election is Cedrick Frazier vs. Anders Folk.
Official primary results
Official post-canvass results from the Minnesota Secretary of State (395 of 395 precincts, last updated Aug. 19, 2026):
| Candidate | Votes | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Cedrick Frazier — advanced | 87,447 | 35.95% |
| Anders Folk — advanced | 55,610 | 22.86% |
| Diane M. Krenz | 46,150 | 18.97% |
| Hao Nguyen | 36,424 | 14.97% |
| Matt Pelikan | 17,648 | 7.25% |
243,279 Hennepin County voters cast ballots in this contest.
What the county attorney actually does
The office is often discussed as if it were purely a policy platform. It is a working prosecutor's office defined by statute. Under Minn. Stat. § 388.051, the county attorney must, among other duties: appear in all cases in which the county is a party; advise the county board and county officers; prosecute felonies, and to the extent prescribed by law gross misdemeanors, misdemeanors, petty misdemeanors, and ordinance violations; and advise and appear before the grand jury. In practice the Hennepin County Attorney runs the largest prosecutorial office in Minnesota — adult felony prosecution, juvenile justice, child protection, and civil counsel to county government — serving a county of roughly 1.3 million people.
Anders Folk
Background. W. Anders Folk was born and raised in Hopkins and describes himself on his campaign site as "a Hopkins kid." University of Minnesota, B.A. summa cum laude (1998); University of Minnesota Law School, J.D. (2001) (Jones Day bio). Married to Angela; four children (campaign site). Campaign branding: "Marine. Federal Prosecutor. Democrat." (andersfolk.com).
Military service. Folk was commissioned in the U.S. Marine Corps during law school and served on active duty as a judge advocate from 2001 to 2005, entering active service after September 11, 2001, and both prosecuting and defending service members in courts-martial (Jones Day bio; campaign About page; Veterans Defense Project board profile). His firm biography lists a Navy Commendation Medal and admission to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. He is endorsed by the veterans organizations With Honor and VoteVets (campaign endorsements page).
Prosecutorial career. Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, 2005–2010, prosecuting terrorism, narcotics, and financial-fraud cases, including investigations into al-Shabaab recruitment of Minnesotans (Jones Day bio; congressional testimony, July 2011). Private practice at Stinson in Minneapolis, ~2011–2018. First Assistant U.S. Attorney, 2018–2021, then Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, March–November 2021 (Star Tribune, March 2021). In that role his office filed the federal civil-rights indictment of Derek Chauvin and three other former officers in the death of George Floyd, and opened the federal pattern-or-practice investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department (campaign site; FOX 9, Oct. 9, 2025). He then served as Senior Counsel to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco at the U.S. Department of Justice (campaign site). He is currently a partner at Jones Day in Minneapolis (jonesday.com).
Platform, in his framing. "Safety and accountability in Hennepin County": enforcement that is "strategic," "data-driven," and "fair" (andersfolk.com/priorities). His "100 Days of Action" plan includes revising juvenile charging policies for gun crimes, crimes of violence, and repeat offenses including car theft, and a "Federal Accountability Task Force" to investigate and prosecute violations of Minnesota law by federal agents during Operation Metro Surge (andersfolk.com/100-days-of-action). His stated theme is "compassion and consequences" — accountability for violent and repeat offenders paired with diversion and prevention (campaign About page). On entering the race: "As County Attorney, I will bring a balanced, transparent approach, ensuring criminals are held accountable while leading with compassion and empathy" (FOX 9, Oct. 9, 2025).
Notable endorsements (campaign site, retrieved Aug. 30, 2026): Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey; U.S. Rep. Angie Craig; former U.S. Attorneys Andy Luger and Tom Berg; former House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler; former Judge Martha Holton Dimick; retired Judge Peter Cahill; several Minneapolis City Council members and suburban mayors; With Honor and VoteVets.
Cedrick Frazier
Background. Cedrick Frazier grew up in a low-income neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago and came to Minnesota for college, where he played football and ran track at the University of Minnesota Morris (B.A., psychology). M.A., Minnesota State University, Mankato; J.D., William Mitchell College of Law (Ballotpedia; Minnesota House bio).
Legal and public career. Assistant Hennepin County public defender (2007–08); Minneapolis Public Schools, Director of Equity and Diversity and later assistant general counsel (2008–2016); staff attorney for Education Minnesota, the state's largest educators' union; adjunct faculty at the University of St. Thomas School of Law (Ballotpedia; FOX 9, Oct. 9, 2025). Elected to the Minnesota House in 2020; now a third-term DFL state representative for District 43A (New Hope/Crystal) and DFL co-chair of the House Ways and Means Committee (house.mn.gov). No military service appears in his official House biography, his campaign website, or news profiles reviewed for this guide.
Platform, in his framing. "Public safety starts with public trust, and leadership starts with listening" (FOX 9, Oct. 9, 2025). His campaign emphasizes protecting immigrant communities from federal enforcement overreach — his website includes a section on prosecuting unlawful conduct by ICE agents — along with wage-theft prosecution and violence prevention (cedrickfrazier.org; Sahan Journal, Aug. 11, 2026). On primary night: "No one is above the law, and no one beneath its protections. Justice belongs to everyone" (MinnPost, Aug. 12, 2026).
Notable endorsements (campaign site, retrieved Aug. 30, 2026): the Minnesota DFL (endorsed at the party's Hennepin convention with 383 voting delegates — Star Tribune); U.S. Sen. Tina Smith; Attorney General Keith Ellison; Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan; U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar; State Auditor Julie Blaha; four Hennepin County commissioners; roughly thirty DFL legislators and numerous mayors; and a broad slate of labor organizations including the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation AFL-CIO, AFSCME Council 5, SEIU Minnesota, Education Minnesota, and Teamsters Joint Council 32.
How the race is being framed
MinnPost called the general election "a clear choice for voters": Frazier as the DFL- and labor-endorsed progressive, Folk as the veteran federal prosecutor (MinnPost, Aug. 12, 2026). The Star Tribune framed it as "Frazier's progressive approach vs. Folk's prosecutorial experience" (Star Tribune, Aug. 2026). MinnPost also noted that the three eliminated candidates — who together drew 100,222 votes, about 41% — all ran on criticism of the current office's direction, and that where their voters land may decide the race.
The Moriarty context
Voters will hear this race argued partly as a referendum on the outgoing county attorney. The documented record, attributed:
- Moriarty's office cites, among other things, Minnesota's first county-level Conviction Integrity Unit, a professional-standards division, a workers' protection unit that won the state's first felony wage-theft conviction, and expanded diversion and violence-prevention initiatives (Hennepin County Attorney's Office announcement, Aug. 7, 2025).
- Reported controversies included the plea agreements offered in the killing of Zaria McKeever, after which Gov. Walz reassigned the case to Attorney General Ellison (Star Tribune; Minnesota Reformer, Aug. 7, 2025); the murder charge against State Trooper Ryan Londregan, dropped in June 2024 on the recommendation of outside counsel (Star Tribune, Aug. 7, 2025); and a 2025 U.S. Department of Justice investigation of the office following a charging policy that directed prosecutors to consider racial identity at key decision points — a policy her office defended as addressing racial disparities (Star Tribune, Aug. 7, 2025).
Both campaigns, in different vocabularies, are promising a change in how the office runs. What kind of change is the question on the ballot.
What this guide could not verify
- Reported fundraising figures for both candidates circulated in news summaries but the underlying campaign-finance filings were not directly reviewed; no dollar figures are published here.
- No independent polling of the general election was found as of August 30, 2026.
- No newspaper endorsements had been made in the general as of August 30, 2026, and no police-union endorsement was documented either way.
Sources
Official: electionresults.sos.mn.gov (post-canvass results, updated Aug. 19, 2026); hennepinattorney.org (Aug. 7, 2025 announcement); Minn. Stat. § 388.051 (revisor.mn.gov); house.mn.gov member profile (Frazier). Candidates: andersfolk.com (About, Priorities, 100 Days of Action, Endorsements); cedrickfrazier.org (platform, endorsements); jonesday.com (W. Anders Folk bio); veteransdefenseproject.org. News: MPR News (Aug. 9, 11 & 19, 2026); MinnPost (Aug. 12, 2026); Sahan Journal (Aug. 11, 2026); Minnesota Lawyer (Aug. 10 & 12, 2026; Nov. 13, 2025); FOX 9 (Oct. 9, 2025; Aug. 11, 2026); Star Tribune (Aug. 7, 2025; Mar. 2021; Aug. 2026); CBS Minnesota (Oct. 2025); Minnesota Reformer (Aug. 7, 2025). Reference: Ballotpedia (Frazier).