DULUTH – Two longtime local attorneys in private practice are vying for the Sixth Judicial District seat held by Judge Dale Harris, whose retirement at the end of his term in early January 2025 has set up a contested judicial election in northern Minnesota.
In northeastern Minnesota, two longtime lawyers vie for contested judicial race
Gunnar Johnson, Duluth’s former city attorney, and Shawn Reed, who says he’s been involved with more than 11,000 cases in 27 years, outlasted the other three candidates on the primary ballot.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 5, 2024 at 2:36PM
Gunnar Johnson of Overom Law, and Shawn Reed, who is with Bray & Reed and has been a hearing officer, face off in the race. The Sixth District position, chambered in Duluth, covers St. Louis, Carlton, Cook and Lake Counties.
The two man field was whittled from a tightly contested five candidate primary race. Johnson secured the most votes in August with 6,545. Reed was a few hundred votes shy of that.
The next day, Johnson said he was humbled by the turnout and the vote.
“I’m working hard on this race because of my desire to get back into public service and to bring my experience in the law to our local court,” he said at the time.
Johnson has varied experiences, ranging from legal counsel for the Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation and its board to city attorney for Hermantown. He was Duluth’s city attorney for more than a decade, ending when he resigned in 2020 while on administrative leave during an investigation of his treatment of employees.
In the run-up to the election, a former colleague and the head of a Minnesota crime nonprofit told the Star Tribune that when a grant subsidized victim advocate position was put in front of Johnson, one his department would likely get if he applied, he said it wasn’t needed. Victim advocates serve as a guide through the legal process and are standard in a city the size of Duluth, with high domestic violence caseloads.
Johnson said recently that he needed to “ask the hard questions” before applying for the grant.
“You have to be careful of what you take on” when potentially adding employees, he said, and consider potential future budget cuts. “I explore all options before jumping into something, and that’s what we did with that position,” he said.
The position was filled, after then-Mayor Emily Larson asked Johnson to apply for the grant, and it remains a grant-funded role.
Reed was a top three finalist under Gov. Mark Dayton and, following the primary election, said he was interested in the positive changes that a judge can make in people’s lives. It’s judges, he said, who make the decisions that directly involve people’s liberty, the composition of their families and more.
Just nine of the 103 judicial races in Minnesota have more than one candidate in the running.
It’s more common for judges to retire midterm, the vacancies filled when the governor appoints a lawyer from within the district. A judicial term is six years, and typically these nonpartisan races — found on the back of the ballot — are not contested. Harris, appointed by then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2010, said earlier this year that he didn’t feel right signing on to another term. He didn’t want to be the guy who stuck around too long.
Gunnar Johnson, Duluth’s former city attorney, and Shawn Reed, who says he’s been involved with more than 11,000 cases in 27 years, outlasted the other three candidates on the primary ballot.
