In 2018, Keith Ellison won the Minnesota race for Attorney General against Doug Wardlow. He ran, as The Washington Post recorded, on the platform of taking on the Trump administration and protecting so-called abortion rights. Today, his view on the right to abortion has become even more radical in the face of the recent Dobbs v. Jackson decision. In a recent press meeting, Ellison said that he would defend the rights of any woman or doctor who received or preformed an abortion in Minnesota. This included, he said, denying extradition requests from surrounding states.
Ellison’s recent statements exacerbate the need for new leadership in our state. Now, Minnesotans are faced with a choice, and abortion will be a key factor in the upcoming November election.
On the Republican side of the issue, there are two candidates vying to replace Ellison. The two candidates will face off in an August 9 primary, and the winner will take on Ellison in the general election in November. The Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the state, and it is their role to enforce laws where necessary. Both Republican candidates are pro-life, but they approach the topic in different ways.
Jim Schultz, the GOP-endorsed candidate, is “fundamentally pro-life,” according to the Star Tribune. As a father of three children, Schultz has worked in his private life to help the pro-life cause. Before his political campaign, he helped start a crisis pregnancy center in Mankato. He also sat on the board of Human Life Alliance, a national pro-life group based in Minnesota, for a time.
Schultz is fundamentally a pro-life conservative, but he has made it clear that his duties as the Attorney General should be to enforce the law, and not a specific movement, even if it is one that he believes in. “I would be an Attorney General who enforces Minnesota law, whatever it is,” he says. As such, Schultz could be a powerful force for good if a pro-life candidate won the gubernatorial race in November and make pro-life policies his priority.
Doug Wardlow, who also has three children, promises to defend “life from conception to natural death.” In his view, Keith Ellison has denied his duty to defend the laws of Minnesota. Wardlow is “100% pro-life,” and accuses Schultz of defending abortion up to 20 weeks. As Attorney General, he would use his position to fight against abortion. He says “I will seize every opportunity to overturn Doe v. Gomez and return to the people the power to protect the lives of the unborn.”
The fate of these two candidates will be decided on August 9th in the Republican primary election. It is crucial that pro-life Minnesotans take this information and make informed decisions on their preferred candidate. Your vote matters, and it will have an immense impact of the pro-life landscape of our state in the years to come.
Regardless of which pro-life candidate makes it the ballot, conservative voters will be faced with a clear choice this fall. As Schultz points out, Keith Ellison "enforces policies that he prefers; he ignores laws that he doesn't like." It is time for new leadership, and a principled, pro-life Attorney General paired with a pro-life governor could be the breakthrough that Minnesota desperately needs.
