Hillary Clinton Endorses Hennepin County Sheriff Candidate

HENNEPIN COUNTY, MN — She may no longer be an elected official or appointed cabinet member, but that doesn't mean Hillary Clinton is sitting out this election cycle. On Tuesday, the former secretary of state endorsed 19 state and local candidates for office across the United States, including two in Minnesota.

Clinton made the endorsements through the "Run for Something" program. Run for Something — launched on Jan. 20, 2017 — aims to "help recruit and support young diverse progressives to run for down-ballot races in order to build a bench for the future."

Clinton is backing Metro Transit police sergeant Dave Hutchinson, who hopes to unseat Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek.

Hutchinson, endorse by the DFL, is positioning himself as a candidate of reform, promising to rethink the county's current relationship with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

This summer, Stanek was criticized for helping immigration authorities too much. Specifically, his office took heat for its policy of alerting ICE when deputies booked foreign-born inmates, the Star Tribune reported.

The policy hurt trust between law enforcement and immigrant communities, opponents said. Several county officials argued the sheriff's office was helping the federal agency do its own job.

However, the Trump administration said the county wasn't doing enough to help ICE.

Hutchinson isn't the only Minnesota candidate who earned Clinton's endorsement. Clinton also backed Heather Edelson, who is running for the Minnesota House in Edina.

Edelson is running against Republican Rep. Dario Anselmo.

More election coverage

• Minneapolis Public School Referendums: $30 Million At Stake
• Obama Endorses 17 Minnesota Candidates Ahead Of Midterms: List
• Minneapolis Voters Could Nix City Alcohol Rule

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Photo: Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during An Evening with Hillary Rodham Clinton at Spark Arena on May 7, 2018 in Auckland, New Zealand. The former US Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate, who lost the 2016 US election to Donald Trump, is touring Australia and New Zealand speaking about being a women in politics. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)