Data from Minnesota Secretary of State

Cedrick Frazier wins Hennepin County Attorney race

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The closest local race of Election Night went down to the wire, and in the end it wasn’t close enough to call until the final tallies landed: Cedrick Frazier captured the Hennepin County attorney seat with 50.55% of the vote, edging former acting U.S. Attorney Andres Folk, who took 48.92% — a gap of 8,300 votes out of more than 500,000 cast, MPR News reported. Incumbent Mary Moriarty did not seek re-election, leaving the seat open and setting up the tightest contest on the ballot, southwestvoices.news reported.

Frazier, a DFL state representative and former public defender who has also worked as an attorney for Minneapolis Public Schools and as a labor attorney for Education Minnesota, will become Hennepin County’s first African American county attorney, according to MPR News. His campaign centered on gun violence and youth crime, and he has called for more crime prevention and alternatives to incarceration.

Cedrick Frazier celebrates Hennepin County Attorney victory

“I will work every single day to uphold equal justice and strengthen public safety,” Frazier said in a statement, as reported by MPR News.

That narrow win at the top of the county ticket stood in sharp contrast to the runaway margins just down the ballot. Sheriff Dawanna Witt cruised to a second term with 67.17% of the vote against challenger Joseph Banks’s 32.22%. On the Hennepin County Board, District 4 member Angela Conley ran unopposed and collected 98.60% of the vote — she has held the office since 2019. In District 3, which includes nearby Southwest Minneapolis, incumbent Marion Greene defeated Abdihakim Arabow Ibrahim 73% to 26%. And on the north side of the city, incumbent board chair Irene Fernando held her seat against challenger Sharon El-Amin — who also serves on the Minneapolis School Board — with almost 62% of the vote. Fernando, southwestvoices.news noted, was the first Filipino American elected in Minnesota in 2023.

A New Face for the School Board’s at-Large Seats

The Minneapolis School Board is getting new blood in its two at-large seats. Christin Crabtree, who came out strongly against the district’s transformation plan to close schools, won one seat with 90,184 votes, or 36.93%. Current board chair Collin Beachy held onto the other at-large seat with 74,523 votes, or 30.51%. They were followed by Stephanie Johnson with 19.70% and Michael Baskins with 12.18%.

Cedrick Frazier talks to press
Photo: mprnews.org

In the district races, Becca Dryden beat Molly Chase for the District 5 seat in south Minneapolis with 64.71% of the vote, filling the seat Lori Norvell vacated by not seeking reelection. Shannon Gibney ran unopposed for District 3. And in District 1, Abdul Abdi defeated Ben Lattimore on a 59.21% to 40.27% split.

Perhaps the least contested question on the ballot was the state constitutional amendment boosting funding for all school districts from the permanent school fund — a measure that will not raise taxes. Minneapolis voters approved it by a lopsided 89.08%, well ahead of the 72.87% statewide yes vote, southwestvoices.news reported.

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