Candidates for Minnesota attorney general, secretary of state debate back-to-back

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The candidates seeking the offices of Minnesota attorney general and secretary of state squared off in back-to-back televised debates on Sunday, making their final pitches to voters two weeks before Election Day.  

MORE: WCCO.com's 2022 digital election guide

DFL incumbent Keith Ellison faces GOP challenger Jim Schultz in a closely watched race that's a dead heat in recent polling. Ellison is seeking his second four-year term, while Schultz seeks to break a stalemate for Republicans in that office, which his party hasn't won in 50 years. 

The exchanges between the candidates were tense at times during Sunday's showdown, which was their fourth and final debate over a 10-day period. Key issues that dominated previous conversations between the two seeking to be Minnesota's top legal officer were again in focus: crime, abortion, and the Feeding Our Future fraud case. 

Schultz and Ellison have sparred over the role of the attorney general's office in prosecuting criminal cases. Schultz again Sunday accused Ellison of not wielding the full power of the office to target the problem. The incumbent repeated that he has taken every criminal case asked of him by local prosecutors.  

"You can walk and chew gum at the same time. We have to ensure that we respond to this incredible challenge," Schultz said. "Unfortunately, we have an attorney general that has sat on his hands."  

Meanwhile Ellison took Schultz to task on abortion rights, telling viewers of the KSTP-TV debate right off the top in his opening statement that he will fight for Minnesotans' right to an abortion while his opponent will "attack it." Schultz said he would not leverage the office to shape abortion policy. 

"He's clearly someone there who's here to take the right to a safe legal abortion away and I'm here to defend that right," Ellison said.  

More than four dozen people are indicted connected to the Feeding Our Future case, a sprawling scheme that authorities say was designed to steal $250 million in federal child nutrition funds. It's become a flashpoint in this race as Schultz accuses Ellison's office of failing to stop it.

Ellison said the state acted "properly" in the investigation, working with federal partners to help build a case and get charges.   

In secretary of state race, focus shifts to state elections 

DFL Secretary of State Steve Simon and Republican Kim Crockett followed with a debate of their own on how Minnesota's elections should be conducted. 

Simon, seeking his third term as the chief elections official, touts Minnesota's high voter turnout as a sign of Minnesotans' trust in the system. He said the state's elections are safe and fair, and that there have been only 17 confirmed cases of election misconduct since the 2020 election.  

"It's a microscopic number," Simon said. "Our system is fundamentally and thoroughly clean and honest." 

GOP challenger Kim Crockett has raised some concerns about Minnesota's voting process and wants some changes, including shrinking the early voting period and implementing voter I.D. She calls that policy "common sense." 

"I believe it's very hard to function in the United States, especially in Minnesota, if you don't have that photo ID. So let's make that happen," Crockett said. "For our seniors and other people who might fall through the cracks, I think we can solve the problem and bring confidence to elections." 

Minnesota voters rejected constitutional amendment on the 2012 ballot to require photo verification at the polls. 

Simon said would support a "fair" proposal on voter I.D. but the ones pitched so far "have been way too punitive." 

Crockett clarified previous statements she made in the first debate when she did not commit to abiding by the results of the election. She said Sunday that she will accept the results of this race—win or lose—barring a state-triggered recount. 

Last in the line-up, Republican candidate for governor Dr. Scott Jensen also fielded questions from moderators, but he stood alone on stage. Gov. Tim Walz declined invitations to participate in a debate, which would have been the only one hosted by a Twin Cities television station.  

They will have their final debate Friday on MPR News.