Police reform advocates say voters skeptical of tough on crime message
At a candidate forum hosted by MPR News last month, Minnesota attorney general candidate Jim Schultz was asked what his priorities would be if elected.
“My top priority is crime, crime and crime,” Schultz answered.
Schultz went on to argue that incumbent Attorney General Keith Ellison hadn’t done enough to reduce crime, and painted a picture of crime “bleeding” from the cities to the suburbs and the rest of the state.
Violent crime rose in many large cities around the country since the pandemic began. In Minnesota, the increasing number of murders and carjackings became fodder for politicians seeking to win seats this election cycle.
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But on Tuesday, statewide voters didn’t reward the efforts of candidates like Schultz to make this year’s midterm election about crime. He lost to Ellison by more than 20,000 votes.
Some progressives who accuse their opponents of fear mongering about crime, think voters may have started to come around to their arguments that public safety means more than just hiring more police and locking up more criminals.
At the forum, Ellison defended his record of taking on criminal cases at the request of county attorneys, but said that the state attorney general is responsible for much more than just criminal prosecutions.
“Minnesotans want an attorney general who will protect their wallets and pocketbooks, their safety and their rights,” Ellison said. “Here’s the thing: You don’t get to just say, ‘I’m only here to work on one issue — which I don’t have any legal authority for’ — you’ve got to deal with what comes to the door.”
Ellison also took heat during the campaign for his support of the failed ballot measure last year that would have replaced the Minneapolis Police Department in the city charter with a new Department of Public Safety.
Law enforcement groups flocked to Schultz’s campaign. The largest and most active this election, the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association (MPPOA), implied in their endorsement that Ellison was an “extremist activist” who pandered to criminals. Officials with the MPPOA were not available for comment.
Just days before Minnesota voters went to the polls, Schultz hosted a “defend the police” rally with a number of law enforcement officers at the Chanhassen Autoplex. Schultz’s campaign for the statewide office was centered around his arguments that policies supported by Ellison had emboldened criminals.
JaNaé Bates of Faith in Minnesota supported Ellison’s candidacy, and had previously worked to pass the Minneapolis ballot question on public safety.
“It was in Jim Schultz’s interest to try to paint Keith as being anti-cop, when he is just anti-bad cop,” Bates said. “The reality is that most Minnesotans agree with Keith Ellison, that cops who do bad things, who hurt people, who murder people, should be held accountable.”
After recent elections, including the ballot measures on public safety, Bates believes that voters in Minnesota have been inoculated to scary rhetoric about crime, and are hungry for more substantial discussions about public safety.
“How do we talk about keeping one another safe? How do we talk about people feeling safe in their homes and the streets, versus ‘be afraid, be very afraid’? Bates said. “There is a very clear distinction.”
The back-and-forth on crime wasn’t unique to the attorney general race. It was also a major theme in the governor’s race, where DFLer Tim Walz won reelection, as well as local races, including the election for Hennepin County Attorney. That race pitted the former head of the Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office Mary Moriarty against former prosecutor and retired judge Martha Holton Dimick.
Holton Dimick ran as a law and order candidate, arguing that activists trying to revamp public safety have emboldened criminals and promised to lock up those who commit crimes.
Although Holton Dimick’s campaign focused extensively on violent crime, especially in her neighborhood of north Minneapolis, her message didn’t seem to resonate with people in the city. She lost most north Minneapolis precincts to Moriarty. Holton Dimick was not available for an interview.
Moriarty said after her election that she tried to stay focused on actions and policies she could institute as county attorney and that she said data shows make communities safer, rather than only talking about crime.
“It’s the opposite of soft on crime, it’s how to be effective on crime and be smart and use our resources as well as we can,” Moriarty said.
Kathleen Cole is a political science professor at Metro State University and organizer with the group People Over Prosecution, which supported Moriarty’s campaign. She said it’s “asinine” to claim that people committing crimes are being spurred on by rhetoric about defunding police. But she said 2022 isn’t the only election year where crime and public safety dominated the debates.
“Since the 1990s, we’ve seen politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, go to crime to try to activate white voters,” Cole said. “That’s been a strategy that’s been very effective.”
Cole said her group’s goal this election was to educate voters about their belief that traditional ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric actually undermines safety. She believes that strategy will win reform-minded candidates more votes.
“My hope is that Democrats throughout Minnesota are going to realize that you can win being honest about crime, talking openly about the causes and the need for prevention, and not fear mongering and trying to activate white racial resentment to win,” Cole said.
The divide between Holton Dimick and Moriarty was not about partisan politics. Although Moriarty was the DFL-endorsed candidate, Holton Dimick had the support of prominent Democrats including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips.
Steve Cramer, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Downtown Council, supported Holton Dimick’s bid for county attorney. He was surprised by the margin of Moriarty’s victory – 15 percentage points. But Cramer thinks discussions of crime are appropriate for a campaign to elect the top prosecutor in the state’s most populous county.
“A campaign around an office whose essential job it is to prosecute people in a fair and just way for harms they may have committed, talking about the reality of public safety and crime in the context of that election is exactly what should be debated,” Cramer said. “It’s not in any way a fear tactic.”
Cramer said the city’s businesses and residents have been struggling for years now to cope with the reality of crime in Minneapolis neighborhoods. He wished Moriarty the best in her new role.
Violent crime increased across the state in 2021, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report released this summer. The number of homicides in Minneapolis is down slightly this year compared to 2021. Carjackings are also down in the city, although offenses like assault and car thefts are up.