Keith Ellison defends fraud record, Trump lawsuits in tight Minnesota attorney general race

With just over four weeks until the midterm election, one of the closest races is for Minnesota's attorney general.

In a recent poll by KSTP last month, attorney Ron Schutz is leading Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison 45% to 43%, with 12% undecided.

Last Sunday, we profiled corporate attorney Ron Schutz. In this week's Talking Points, Esme Murphy looks at Attorney General Keith Ellison's campaign.

Schutz is attacking the incumbent Ellison for not doing enough to combat fraud. Ellison touts his record of more than 350 Medicaid fraud convictions. Last Sunday, Schutz claimed that Ellison had not gotten convictions. This was the exchange last weekend.

Esme asked: "You're saying it was never a conviction?"

Schutz replied, "Stays of adjudication, there's no conviction. And there are 70 of those 214 cases they looked [at], there was no conviction."

Ellison was a guest on the latest edition of WCCO Sunday Morning.

"He is wrong about the 350 convictions, but he is also wrong as he implies the stay of adjudication is not a consequence," Ellison said. 

Ellison says his office is a major force in battling the Trump Administration. Ellison has filed more than 73 lawsuits against the president, keeping $7.3 billion flowing into Minnesota. The lawsuits include challenges to Operation Metro Surge, for evidence in the Renee Good and Alex Pretti killings, against SNAP and Medicaid cuts, against clean energy cuts, against cutting the Department of Education, against cuts in medical research, for transgender rights and against the Trump tariffs. 

Schutz has criticized these lawsuits as "theater." 

"Every lawsuit that we file has to pass two criteria," Ellison said. "One, it has to affect Minnesota, and then two, it has to hurt Minnesotans, and it has to be illegal. Obviously it has to be illegal. That is why we file these cases."

Schutz has said that Ellison's claim that, as attorney general, he can help keep prices for consumers low is, "simply preposterous." 

Ellison says he can point to many actions that have helped consumers. Ellison says his lawsuits have capped the price of insulin at $35 a month, targeted predatory lenders and wage theft, sued John Deere to give farmers the right to repair their equipment, and brought numerous lawsuits against Trump tariffs. 

Ellison, who is a former Congressman, said, "I felt it was right for me to jump out of Congress to go be the attorney general to fight for consumers, to fight for workers, to fight for small business people, and that is what I have done."

Ellison and Schutz have each personally raised just over $1 million for their campaign. According to state records, millions more in outside PAC money have been pouring in, with outside money against Ellison topping outside money against Schutz by a margin of at least 4 to 1.

You can watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Adam Del Rosso every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.