The stakes in a Minnesota primary for attorney general have never been higher. For nearly four years, radical leftist Attorney General Keith Ellison has been waging war on the police, trampling our constitutional rights, and using the attorney general’s office to push left-wing causes at the behest of radical special-interest groups. On Tuesday, Minnesota Republicans must select a Republican nominee who has what it takes to go toe-to-toe with Ellison and win.
We also need an attorney general nominee who has the conservative convictions, fortitude, and experience necessary to transform the attorney general’s office and leverage all its resources to get Minnesota back on track.
The contrast between myself and my GOP primary opponent couldn’t be clearer.
I am a constitutional lawyer with 18 years of courtroom and litigation experience. Working for Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian non-profit law firm, I litigated cases defending religious freedom and free speech in courtrooms across the country. I have also served as general counsel for MyPillow, managing litigation and standing in defense of the First Amendment and election integrity. I have been fighting for the Constitution and conservative values in the courtroom for my entire legal career.
In 2018, it was my honor to be the Republican nominee for attorney general. That year, in a very difficult political climate for Republicans, our campaign came closer to winning the AG’s office than any Republican in 50 years — within 3.8 percent. We outperformed our gubernatorial candidate by 8 points. I received more votes — 1.15 million — than any Republican has ever received in a midterm election in Minnesota. It was the first time in state history that a Republican AG candidate outperformed all the other Republican statewide candidates on the ballot. Now, instead of facing strong political headwinds, we have the wind at our backs. We have an army of over 4,000 small donors, so we will be able to match Ellison dollar-for-dollar in the general election. I also have invaluable name recognition built up last cycle and over the 400-plus campaign appearances I’ve made across Minnesota in the past 18 months.
My primary opponent, Jim Schultz, by contrast, has no courtroom experience whatsoever. He has never been entrusted to represent a client in court. So how can he be trusted to represent the state and the people of Minnesota in the most important and complex constitutional, criminal, and civil cases there are? How can we trust a person who has never litigated a case in a courtroom to manage litigators or devise litigation strategies to defend our constitutional rights? We cannot. And, in a general election, neither would Minnesota voters.
Schultz is not qualified to be our state’s top lawyer. Democrats would pounce on his complete lack of relevant experience. The fact that Schultz is unqualified makes him unelectable as well. Soros-backed Ellison would make short work of him.
Just after the 2018 election, Ellison described the race as the “political fight of his life.” Now, he fears our campaign because of my name recognition and because I came within a hair’s breadth of defeating him in a Democrat-wave election year — and despite voter fraud. He knows that I fight hard, pull no punches, and am not prone to the mistakes that a less experienced candidate would make.
I am proud to have the endorsements of General Michael Flynn and Mike Lindell. They endorsed my campaign because I am the bold, America First conservative candidate in this race, and they know that I will investigate election crime and ensure that it is punished according to the law. My primary opponent doesn’t like to talk about election integrity. When asked whether he believes the 2020 election was stolen, he repeatedly dodged the question and refused to give an answer. And he has said that he won’t advocate for the pro-life cause.
I am the only candidate in this race who has what it takes to defeat Ellison. And I am the only candidate who has the experience and the battle-tested conservative convictions to overhaul the attorney general’s office and implement litigation strategies to defend and extend our fundamental freedoms. When I am attorney general, I will move quickly and boldly to restore law and order, investigate and prosecute voter fraud, attack and overturn Doe v. Gomez and Doe v. Minnesota, fight federal overreach, and secure our elections.
Let’s send Ellison packing and save Minnesota. I humbly ask for your vote in the Republican primary on Tuesday.
Doug Wardlow
Doug Wardlow is a Constitutional lawyer and former Minnesota State Representative. He is running for Minnesota Attorney General.
