Local races at the midterms

The 2026 midterm elections will be held Nov. 3, with the primaries on Aug. 11. Below are primary races and candidates that are running in the Northeaster’s coverage area, with information compiled from candidates’ materials and websites.

State Representatives

District 60B has two DFL candidates running for State Representative: Abdurrahman Mahmud and Incumbent Mohamud Noor.

Mahmud did not have a campaign website available at the time of reporting.

Noor has held the seat since 2019 and currently serves as co-chair of the House Human Services Finance and Policy Committee. Noor is a member of the Ways and Means committee, the Higher Education Finance and Policy committee and the Minneapolis Board of Education. He previously served as chair of the Jobs and Economic Development Committee and chair of the Human Services Committee. Before serving in the Legislature, Noor worked for Hennepin County and the Minnesota Department of Human Services and is a technology business consultant. Noor is DFL-endorsed.

Rep. Sydney Jordan, DFL, and Mary Holmberg, Republican, are running in District 60A.

In District 39B, which includes St. Anthony, Columbia Heights and Hilltop, Rep. Sandra Feist is retiring.
Two Columbia Heights elected officials are competing, Mayor Amáda Márquez Simula and City Council Member Justice Spriggs.

Márquez Simula is DFL-endorsed and has been the mayor of Columbia Heights since 2020. Márquez Simula organized the city’s first Pride Festival, launched the Bilingual Monarch Butterfly Festival and was a 2025 Bush Fellow. She co-founded HeightsNEXT, a nonprofit which provides green technology, sustainable urban projects and community-building events. Her campaign website states that her “core belief is that no person must ever be excluded from our society or our policies.”

Spriggs has lived in the district since he was two years old and has been a City Council Member in Columbia Heights since 2022. Spriggs is a physician. “Now more than ever,” Spriggs wrote, it “is important to have legislators with knowledge of medicine and public health because everything we do must be done through the lens of how it will affect both the short and long-term health of our communities.”

Republican KT Jacobs is running uncontested.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty is stepping down. Anders Folk, Cedrick Frazier, Diane Krenz, Hao Nguyen and Matt Pelikan are running.

Folk is a partner with Jones Day and an adjunct professor with the University of St. Thomas School of Law. He was the acting U.S. Attorney and First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. Folk is endorsed by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

Frazier is a member of the MN House of Representatives where he is vice chair of the Public Safety and Judiciary Committees. He serves as an attorney with Education Minnesota and has worked as a public defender in Hennepin County. He is endorsed by MN Attorney General Keith Ellison and Sen. Tina Smith.

Krenz serves as a special assistant attorney in Hennepin County. She has 40 years of experience in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. In a press release, Krenz wrote, “A lifetime of service to Hennepin County has shaped me. Now I’m ready to lead this office forward. Together, we can restore trust, deliver common-sense justice and make every neighborhood safer.”

Nguyen is director of the Trials Division at the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office. Nguyen was originally a police officer and prioritizes
public safety, fairness and evidence-based solutions. He is endorsed by Ramsey County Attorney John Choi.

Pelikan is a partner with MADEL PA. He was editor-in-chief of the Minnesota Law Review and clerked for Justice Paul Anderson and Justice David Lillehaug at the Minnesota Supreme Court.

School board elections

Five are running for the two seats for School Board Member At-Large: Michael Baskins, Collin Beachy, Christin Crabtree, Clifton “CJ” Henderson and Stephanie Johnson.

Baskins, Henderson and Johnson do not have campaign websites at the time of reporting.

Beachy is the Chair of the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education and previously worked as a special education teacher for 20 years. Beachy is also DFL-endorsed. He is running because “I believe strong public schools require accountability, collaboration, stability, and a clear vision for the future,” according to a statement on his campaign website.

Crabtree has been a Minneapolis public school parent for 21 years, has served on parent-teacher organizations, site councils and written grants for the arts program. Crabtree is DFL-endorsed and is running with Collin Beachy. On her campaign website, she writes, “I want to continue building that sense of community and mutual flourishing as your school board member at large.”

Hennepin County District 2 Commissioner public forum hosted by the League of Women Voters on page 3.