The DFL has been in a state of flux this election season-a game of "musical chairs," so to speak, with longtime politicos abandoning their seats for other roles in state government.
The office of state attorney general is no different. No less than five DFL candidates are vying for the spot come August-and that's with the notable exception of Lori Swanson. Swanson is making a bid for governor instead after DFL delegates didn't give her their endorsement when the three-term incumbent refused to sign a number of pledges, including one that stipulated the disarmament of police officers.
Matt Pelikan, 37, of Minneapolis (originally of Northfield), stopped by Brainerd Saturday, June 30, to join area residents protesting the border policies of President Donald Trump. Pelikan has been in the race from the beginning-over a year now, long before Swanson entertained a gubernatorial run, before Rep. Keith Ellison cast his bid for state attorney general June 5-and he said he did it because there's a need for a strong, assertive form of progressivism.
"It's time for a new generation of progressive leaders, and I think we need to build on the proud legacy of that office that has been, at times, the best public office in the entire country," Pelikan told the Dispatch during a phone interview Monday, July 2.
"Experience is measured in more than years, it's about your values and your perspective," said Pelikan, who garnered the DFL endorsement at the convention May 30-June 1 in Rochester.
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"I have the right values and perspective to lead this office with the type of strong and progressive leadership Minnesotans are ready for. Progressive leadership means taking on the fights that need fighting, that require tenacity and determination even when no one is watching. That's what I've brought to bear throughout my professional and political life."
If nothing else, Pelikan is a true-blue progressive-citing activism in the DFL since age 13 in Northfield (where he also served as the precinct caucus chair before he could even vote), then protests against the Iraq War when he was a student at St. Olaf College in 2003, as well as promoting liberal causes when he was a law student at the University of Minnesota Law School in 2012. He also worked as a staffer under prominent DFL figures, including former senators Paul Wellstone and Mark Dayton, and as a clerk in the Minnesota Supreme Court-with a small career in private practice in between-before he left his job and temporarily moved to Ohio in 2016 to combat voter suppression during that election.
Now, in addition to crisscrossing Minnesota for his own campaign, Pelikan said he currently works in private legal practice-advocating for both corporations and individuals, often in cases that involve civil liberties and sexual or racial harassment.
Pelikan shrugged off notions of a crowded DFL primary and the challenges that entails. The primary includes Ellison, along with former Ramsey County Attorney Tom Foley, state Rep. Debra Hilstrom and former Minnesota Commissioner of Commerce Mike Rothman. In essence, he noted, it's a competition he's been preparing for for some time.
"We always expected there was going to be a primary. There's some great people in the race," Pelikan said. "But, I've been at this for about a year, I've visited nearly every county in the state and put a thousand miles on the car. We have a great grassroots campaign-it's why we were able to get the DFL endorsement."
Two umbrella issues take precedence in his campaign, said Pelikan, who said he will continue to push for protections of civil rights, as well as litigation to curb the power of corporations in the service of everyday Minnesotans across the state.
"We have to redouble our efforts on the economy. There's an urgent need to get an economy that has fair opportunities for people of every community in Minnesota," said Pelikan, who noted consumer protections, workplace issues like wage theft and antitrust enforcement as focal points of his candidacy.
While there's a "great legacy" of addressing these issues in the Minnesota attorney general's office, he added, these kinds of cases are increasingly less frequent and smaller in scope.
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"The concentration of too much economical and political power in too few hands is one of the greatest challenges facing our country right now," he said. "The attorney general is empowered to shift the balance of power back to the lower and middle class."
