Former Washington County Judge Tad Jude filed to run for Hennepin County attorney last week, records from the Secretary of State’s Office show.
The political veteran is fresh off of his campaign for attorney general, which concluded last month when he lost the Minnesota GOP’s endorsement to Jim Schultz.
Jude served in the Minnesota House from 1973 to 1983 as the youngest person ever elected to the Legislature in state history. He was then elected to the Minnesota Senate, where he served until 1989 before doing a four-year stint on the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners.
He returned to the political world in 2011 as a judge in Minnesota’s Tenth Judicial District, a position he held until Dec. 31, 2021.
The race for county attorney will be the most competitive it’s been in years because of the retirement of Mike Freeman, who has occupied the position since 2007.
Alpha News recently discovered that Freeman has been living outside of Hennepin County for months under a state program that allows him to conceal his address. His prior home in south Minneapolis was frequently targeted by protesters following George Floyd’s death.
The county recently approved a $190,000 settlement with a woman who filed a sex discrimination complaint against Freeman.
Other candidates seeking to replace Freeman include Martha Holton Dimick, Jarvis Jones, Paul Ostrow, Saraswati Singh, House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, and former Hennepin County Chief Public Defender Mary Moriarty.
Moriarty recently won the DFL’s endorsement for the job and has the support of far-left politicians like Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Jude focused much of his campaign for attorney general on crime, vowing to “make crime illegal again.”
Alpha News reached out to Jude for comment but did not receive a response.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
