(C) Minnesota Reformer
This story was originally published by Minnesota Reformer and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Analysis: Sizing up the attorney general race 15 months out • Minnesota Reformer [1]

['J. Patrick Coolican', 'Jonathan Shorman', 'Izzy Wagener', 'More From Author', 'August', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar']

Date: 2025-08

The last Republican to serve as a Minnesota attorney general was Douglas M. Head, whose single term began before Americans stepped on the moon.

This is a huge GOP fail, for a number of reasons.

The Office of Attorney General can be immensely influential, as evidenced by the tenure of Keith Ellison. The Minnesota Constitution is mostly silent on the role of the attorney general, but statute gives the AG broad authority to “investigate violations of the law of this state respecting unfair, discriminatory, and other unlawful practices in business, commerce, or trade.” In other words, a broad remit that allows for high-profile investigation, civil litigation and even prosecution. Consider Ellison’s climate fraud lawsuit against Exxon, Koch and the American Petroleum Institute.

Ellison has also prosecuted former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for murdering George Floyd and represented the state’s interests against the Trump administration in about 30 lawsuits so far.

The office can be a springboard for a candidacy for governor or U.S. Senate, with almost limitless potential for media coverage — AG sues car dealer for selling lemons, news at 11! — as well as fundraising.

Although Minnesota attorneys general have all failed in their attempts for higher office in recent decades — from Lori Swanson and Mike Hatch all the way back to Head — it’s such a common occurrence in other states that the joke is that AG stands for “aspiring governor.”

So, which Republicans are in for 2026?

Here’s some names being discussed in GOP circles:

— Joseph Thompson, the acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, who’s won significant acclaim and media coverage for his prosecution of widespread fraud in Minnesota’s public programs.

— Ron Schutz of Robins Kaplan, former chair and current board member of the Center of the American Experiment and chair of Tim Pawlenty’s presidential campaign.

— Ryan Wilson, the losing 2022 candidate for state auditor.

— Tad Jude, the former legislator, judge and Hennepin County Board member who lost to U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison in 2024. (Jude trivia: He was 20 years old when elected to the state House in 1972.)

— Rep. Harry Niska, who ran briefly for the 2018 AG contest. Niska didn’t vote for Donald Trump in 2016 and got in the 2018 race in April of 2017. “I have been working to help other House candidates and have had a number of discussions about the AG race, but haven’t made any final 2026 decision yet,” Niska said this week.

The most intriguing candidate would be Thompson, whose story would be easy to tell: He prosecuted the fraudsters that Ellison let get away. (Obviously Ellison, who’s racked up his own Medicaid fraud prosecutions, would rebut.)

“First I’ve heard of it,” Thompson said about AG speculation. When asked if he’d be interested in running, he didn’t reply.

Thompson’s party identity isn’t even known at this point. While heading up the Feeding Our Future cases, he worked closely with then-U.S. Attorney Andy Luger — the Obama and Biden appointee — and the two had a close working relationship. Any bid for the Republican nomination would draw questions about whether he supported President Donald Trump’s three candidacies.

On the Democratic-Farmer-Labor side, Attorney General Keith Ellison has not announced any reelection plans, according to a spokesman. He’s ruled out a run for Hennepin County attorney.

Ellison would seem to be awaiting a decision from Gov. Tim Walz about whether the DFL governor will seek a third term.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://minnesotareformer.com/briefs/analysis-sizing-up-the-attorney-general-race-15-months-out/

Published and (C) by Minnesota Reformer
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/MnReformer/

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.