Minnesota judge elections: What you need to know about candidates running in state court races
Minnesota Supreme Court chief justice
Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson is up for election after she was appointed as the court’s first Black chief justice last fall. She served as an associate justice on the Supreme Court since 2015 and previously served 13 years on the state’s Court of Appeals. Before becoming a judge, she practiced criminal law in the Attorney General’s Office, worked as the St. Paul city attorney, worked in private practice and got her start at Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services working on housing issues. Hudson earned her law degree from the University of Minnesota. Hudson is running for re-election because she “has the experience, temperament, and intellect to work collaboratively with her colleagues on the Minnesota Supreme Court,” according to her campaign.
Minnesota Supreme Court associate justice
Supreme Court Associate Justice Karl Procaccini was also appointed to the high court last fall. He got his law degree at Harvard University and worked for six years at Minneapolis firm Greene Espel,representing individuals, nonprofits and businesses. Procaccini joined DFL Gov. Tim Walz’s office as general counsel and served during the COVID-19 pandemic and taught at the University of St. Thomas and Mitchell Hamline law schools. Procaccini said he’s running to see the court through a transition period with three new members and preserve its “tradition of excellence and fairness.”
Court of Appeals judge
Diane Bratvold has served as a judge on the Court of Appeals since 2016 and was elected to a six-year term in 2018. During her time on the court, she worked on the redistricting process in the state following the 2020 U.S. Census. She previously served as a judge in the Fourth Judicial District and worked in private practice and as a trial lawyer for nearly three decades. Bratvold got her law degree at the University of Minnesota. In a Minnesota Bar Association questionnaire, she cites her decades of experience in the courtroom and her independence as the reasons voters should vote for her this fall.
Second Judicial District (Ramsey County)
Incumbent Ramsey County Judge Timothy Carey attended Mitchell Hamline School of Law and was appointed to the bench by Walz in 2022. Before becoming a judge, he worked as a public probation officer and an assistant Ramsey County attorney, focusing on the “intersection between mental illness, addiction and criminal behaviors,” he said. Carey said his expertise and experience working in mental health is “critically important” at the district court level.
More after the link.
https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-judge-elections-what-you-need-to-know-about-candidates-running-in-state-court-races/601157896