Press Release

Yesterday, on the one year anniversary of the January 6th insurrection, Republican candidate for Minnesota Secretary of State Kim Crockett called both the 2020 election and the idea that January 6th was an insurrection attempt “rigged.”

In a fundraising email, Crockett told supporters:

“Exactly a year ago, I was in Atlanta, Georgia working the U.S. Senate run-off as a volunteer lawyer with the Republican National Lawyers Association. I watched the events of that day unfold on cable news—and just like the election itself felt there was a lot going on that day (and since) that was unreported, misreported—called it rigged.”

A copy of the fundraising email can be found here.

DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement taking Crockett to task for echoing the falsehood that brought about the attack on the Capitol: 

“The 2020 elections were free, fair, and secure and even Donald Trump’s Department of Justice acknowledged that. It is completely disqualifying that Republican Secretary of State candidate Kim Crockett called the 2020 elections rigged, especially on the anniversary of an insurrection attempt fueled by lies about our elections. It is even more worrying that Crockett dismissed the notion that the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol was an insurrection attempt.”

“Crockett has clearly been blinded by her far-right, extremist ideology and is completely incapable of distinguishing truth from fiction as a result. The voters of Minnesota must not entrust Crockett with the tremendous responsibility of overseeing Minnesota’s elections.”

Background on Crockett:

• Kim Crockett is a far-right attorney who has spent years working to bias Minnesota election law towards Republicans and make it harder to vote.
  • Crockett has complained that Republicans don’t focus enough on gaining control of election rules for partisan advantage, and bragged about doing exactly that.
  • Crockett wants to restrict early voting, restrict same-day voter registration, and reject ballots postmarked on election day.
• Crockett currently serves as a legal policy advisor for the Minnesota Voters Alliance, a far-right group that works to restrict Minnesotans’ freedom to vote.
  • The Minnesota Voters Alliance has sued to block mask mandates in polling places and force the release of private voter data and has called the 2020 elections stolen without any evidence.
• In 2019, Crockett was suspended from her job at a far-right think tank and forced to publicly apologize for making racist comments about Somali refugees to right-wing activists that were documented in the New York Times.
• Crockett is also Vice President and General Counsel of the Charlemagne Institute, which recently had to fire a high-level staffer for praising Adolf Hitler, organizing meetings to promote racism called “hateups”, and asking fellow racists for suggested reading material to help radicalize Charlemagne Institute interns.