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As November midterms approach, it’s expected every ballot in the state will have at least one candidate running for each office listed. But there's one office in Mahnomen, Red Lake and Lake of the Woods Counties that don't have anyone running for it: county attorney.

 highlighted the strange situation. But Robert Small, Executive Director of the Minnesota County Attorneys Association, is all too familiar with this issue. 

“This has been a problem or an issue for county attorneys in Greater Minnesota ever since I've been the executive director,” he told MPR News.

COVID and a significant increase to public defender pay in 2023 has created a bottleneck in the recruiting pipeline, Small said: “We lost 21 assistant county attorneys in Greater Minnesota to become public defenders.” 

However, all 87 counties in the state do have a county attorney. For counties without a candidate running, county commissioners appoint someone — usually a lawyer from another county. 

Listen to the full conversation by clicking the player above.

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Morning Edition

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Cathy Wurzer

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Lukas Levin

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In at least three counties in Minnesota, there is no one to run for county attorney. 

A number of Minnesota counties are missing a candidate on their ballot

In rural Minnesota, county attorney candidates can be hard to find

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