Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced Wednesday that she will not run for a second term.
In a statement, Moriarty said that rather than running for reelection next year, she is instead “choosing to focus on creating enduring change in the system” over the remaining 17 months of her term.
“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,” Moriarty said in the statement issued Wednesday evening. “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 wrote.
Wednesday’s announcement comes after a tumultuous first two-and-a-half years in office. Moriarty highlighted several accomplishments in her statement, including new units and initiatives in her office.
But she’s also faced sharp criticism over some charging decisions and plea deals, and the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year said it was launching an investigation into how the office handles plea deals.
Moriarty was elected to lead the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office in 2022 — taking over from longtime County Attorney Mike Freeman, who chose not to run for reelection.
Moriarty was previously a public defender in Hennepin County for more than three decades, including serving as chief public defender.
Moriarty’s announcement Wednesday touted a number of accomplishments, including the county attorney’s office devoting “more resources to preventing violence before it starts—and it’s working. Violent crime continues to drop and HCAO recently held the office’s first ever violence prevention summit.”
She also highlighted the establishment of a Conviction Integrity Unit, a Division of Professional Standards and a Workers Protection Unit within the office, as well as a new space for the office’s Domestic Abuse Service Center.
Moriarty’s statement said the county attorney’s office “continues to hold those who cause harm accountable, day in and day out, always with an emphasis on what’s safest for the public now and in the future.”
But Moriarty has also faced controversy and intense scrutiny during her time in office.
In April 2023 — just a few months after Moriarty took office — Gov. Tim Walz took the rare step of reassigning a homicide case from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office to state Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Walz made that move after Moriarty’s office had offered two juvenile defendants plea deals in exchange for their testimony in another case. The family of the victim, Zaria McKeever, was upset by those plea deals.
In June 2024, Moriarty dropped charges against state trooper Ryan Londregan in the fatal shooting of Ricky Cobb II during a traffic stop in Minneapolis, saying that new evidence made it impossible to prove unauthorized use of force.
Moriarty’s decision to file charges in that case had drawn criticism from law enforcement groups, and Walz also raised concerns.
And earlier this year, a U.S. Department of Justice official said the agency was investigating Moriarty’s office for a policy allowing prosecutors to consider the background of people charged with a crime, including their race and age, when weighing plea deals. The policy cited a need to address racial disparities.
Moriarty’s decision to leave after a single term is unusual in the recent history of the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.
Freeman served from 2007 to 2023 — his second stint as county attorney, after previously serving from 1991 to 1999.
Now-U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar served two terms as county attorney, between 1999 and 2007.
Hours after Moriarty’s announcement, Democratic state Rep. Cedrick Frazier of New Hope announced Thursday that he’s considering a run for county attorney, with a formal decision “in the coming days.”
Moriarty’s statement did not address her plans for after she leaves office. But in an accompanying video, she said she “will continue to work for systemic change for our community, just as I have done my entire career.”
