Past the Platitudes: County Attorney Candidates w/ Darcy Sherman, public defender

There is a spectre haunting the Hennepin County Attorney race... and that spectre is Mary Moriarty... who is NOT running. That leaves a full field of candidates in this open race. We welcome special guest Darcy Sherman, 13-year public defender here in Hennepin. Did you know that this office is considered the largest law firm in the state? We learned what the work looks like behind the scenes, and looked past the platitudes and figure out how to evaluate this hugely powerful position

Recorded 4/15/26.

Alert

MN is under threat from federal agents right now. Mill City Hall asks you to plug in and take action:

• Donate to rent support and mutual aid funds
• Defend 612 is a new entry-point to local neighborhood organizing
• Monarca continues to provide trainings for regular folks who want to help, and offers a hotline to report ICE activity: 612-441-2881
• The North Star Alliance is lobbying for state reform to protect non-citizen residents of Minnesota.

Shout-outs

• Jesse attended the Monarca strategy session in NE Minneapolis on April 9 where they announced a democracy defense strategy. They have democracy defense trainings coming up.
• Minneapolis city staff leadership re-appointments hit HARD (we covered these on our March 17 episode). Shout out to Cam for making sure we covered that!

Don't forget to check out:

• Our Instagram account for clips that are easy to browse and share
• Cam's writings in the 2nd Ward Blog

Candidate Coverage & Media

The candidate websites are pretty useless so far, so here are some better places to start if you want to learn more about these candidates:

• Cam covered the March 31 candidate forum in Southwest Voices
• Full video of the March 31 candidate forum, hosted by the DFL Senior Caucus
• Hill and Lake Press has a candidate Q&A
• Rod Adams exposed Anders Folk in Racket: "For years, the watchdog group Revolving Door Project, which scrutinizes executive branch appointees, has raised concerns about Folk's career trajectory."
• Wedge LIVE! Series of interviews with candidates:
  • Anders Folk
  • Cedrick Frazier
  • Hao Nguyen
  • Francis Shen
• Better Mineapolis series of interviews
  • Anders Folk
  • Cedrick Frazier
  • Diane Krenz
  • Hao Nguyen
  • Matt Pelikan
  • Francis Shen

Selected Candidate Quotes

Anders Folk

• The County Attorney’s Office “is not a classroom where we’re going to go and test theories and see what happens.” Source
• “Just to be clear,” Folk said. “Day one, for me, the Mary Moriarty era ends and we’re going in a new direction.” Source
• "We need to focus resources on the biggest public safety issues. I call it a common-sense approach and a public safety-first mindset." Source

Matt Pelikan

• Pelikan said that officers feel over-targeted, citing polling showing that more than 90 percent of cops believe they could be criminally charged for “doing their jobs.” “That’s unacceptable,” he said, “and that leaves all of us less safe.” - Source
• [re: Moriarty] I think Moriarty has made disastrous decisions in individual prosecutions and has broken the coalition needed for reform. .. I agree with her on one thing. We do not have a successful model to go back to. I worry we will be offered a false choice: double down on Moriarty’s approach or go back to the old way Source

Cedrick Frazier

• as a country, we do well with the punitive process. Where we fall short is rehabilitation, intervention and prevention. If we did those well, we would have safer communities. Source
• [re: Moriarty] My focus will be prevention and intervention along with accountability. Source

Hao Nguyen

• [re: Moriarty] It would look very different, though I want to be clear I am running for something. Source

Francis Shen

• [re: Moriarty] It would look different because I would have strong relationships with law enforcement and foster collaboration among community, law enforcement, the prosecutor’s office and other agencies Source

Hennepin County Attorney Background

Want to learn more about the Hennepin County Attorney office itself, and recent officeholders?

• County Attorney data dashboard
• The Mike Freeman era
  • Retrospective interview
  • Former prosecutor who sued the office
• State Trooper Ryan Londregan shooting and dropped charges, mentioned as a key political pivot point in Moriarty's tenure
• The Hennepin Home School came up in discussion during the episode:
  • Judges raise alarm over Hennepin County’s closure of sole youth correctional facility
  • Home School mentioned in this article about the County failing to find appropriate mental health care facilities for children
  • (2008) Juvenile program 'a place of last resort,' not rehabilitation