Rep. Cedrick Frazier announces bid for Hennepin County Attorney

Hennepin Co Attorney Mary Moriarty not seeking reelection

Mary Moriarty, the Hennepin County Attorney, has announced that she will not be running for reelection in 2026, opting to serve only a single term. FOX 9?s Chenue Her has more on the story.

(FOX 9) - Two weeks after Mary Moriarty announced she wouldn't seek re-election as Hennepin County Attorney, state Rep. Cedrick Frazier announced his bid for her office.

Rep. Cedrick Frazier running for Hennepin County Attorney

What we know:

In a statement on Monday, Rep. Frazier announced he would run to become the next Hennepin County Attorney.

Rep. Frazier announced he would seek the DFL endorsement for the seat and already has the endorsement of Attorney General Keith Ellison.

Rep. Cedrick Frazier (FOX 9)

The backstory:

In a video shared as part of his campaign announcement, Frazier shared some of his background, discussing growing up in a low-income neighborhood on the south side of Chicago.

"The failed legal policies of the ’80s and ’90s took a devastating toll on communities like the one I grew up in," says Fraizer. "My neighborhood faced widespread gang violence and drug trafficking. I lost loved ones, both to the tragedies of gun violence and the harsh realities of the legal system."

Frazier came to Minnesota to attend college and play football. He ultimately worked his way through law school and became an attorney. In 2025, Frazier is in his third term as a representative in the Minnesota House.

Frazier was expected to be in the running to step into the DFL's top role in the Minnesota House following the assassination of Melissa Hortman.

Moriarty not running

Local perspective:

Earlier this month, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced she would not seek re-election as Hennepin County Attorney.

Moriarty is in her first term after replacing longtime county attorney Mike Freeman in 2022 after his retirement. In a statement on Aug. 6, Moriarty said: "I ran for this office to do the hard work; the work that desperately needed doing and the work the voters chose when I was elected in 2022 by 16 points. We’ve become accustomed to elected officials who don’t deliver results and end up more invested in clinging to power than doing the work of the people. That is not me. As I have weighed whether I wanted to spend the last year and a half of my term focused primarily on campaigning or continuing to transform this office, the choice became clear. I want to focus on running the office, rather than running for office. I trust that the voters who overwhelmingly elected me just two and a half years ago will choose a candidate in 2026 to build on our work, which is proving to make Hennepin County safer and more just."

Moriarty has faced several controversies during her term, including a caustic relationship with the Minneapolis police chief and criticism over how she handled juvenile offenders. Her term runs through 2026.