By Anders Folk
I served as a Marine, a federal prosecutor, and Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota. I know how a well-run office of prosecutors can help the communities it serves. The office must stay focused on public safety and work to earn the public’s trust every day.
When the U.S. Attorney’s Office does its job, it takes on the hardest cases: complex fraud, gang violence, gun crime, and civil rights violations. These cases take time. They are not quick or easy to bring. They take experienced prosecutors and investigators who know how to build a case the right way.
Just two months into 2026, at least 14 attorneys from Minnesota’s U.S. Attorney’s Office have left or announced they are leaving. The office is seriously understaffed. This is not normal, and it has consequences. It means there are fewer prosecutors and less capacity for the office to help keep our communities safe.
In the Economist, I told the troubling truth: Minnesota’s U.S. Attorney’s Office used to be among the most effective in the country. Today, with resources diverted and talent walking out the door, it is not able to do that job.
At the same time, we are seeing something else that should concern every American, regardless of party. Journalists are being arrested and prosecuted in ways that appear designed to chill free expression. Even when a case gets tossed, the damage is done. Being arrested is punishment. Being charged is punishment. The cost, the fear, the disruption. That is the point.
That is not public safety. That is politics masquerading as justice.
Hennepin County needs a County Attorney who will be clear about what keeps us safe and who will do the job with integrity.
Here is my commitment.
We will hold people accountable, consistently and fairly.
We will protect everyone’s constitutional rights, because that is not optional. It is foundational.
And we will rebuild trust so that good policing and effective prosecution work together.
Anders Folk is running for Hennepin County Attorney.
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Anders has my vote for sure!