Ron Schutz, Republican candidate for Minnesota Attorney General, spoke with the Independent about some of his key campaign issues last week.

MARSHALL — The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office can have a big impact on Minnesotans’ quality of life, Ron Schutz said. Schutz said it’s part of the reason he is running for state attorney general.

Schutz, a lawyer and southern Minnesota native, said last week that he had “deep concerns about what was happening in the state. The state in general is on the wrong track,” Schutz said.

As Attorney General, he could work to change that, in areas like fighting fraud and supporting law enforcement, he said.

Schutz was in Marshall last week for an event before the Republican Congressional District 7 endorsing convention. He spoke with the Independent about some of his key campaign issues.

Schutz grew up on a dairy farm near Adrian, and went on to serve in the U.S. Army as part of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He later went into private law practice. Schutz became a partner in the law firm Robins Kaplan and served as the firm’s chairman from 2019 to 2024. He said he has stepped down to focus on his campaign for Attorney General.

He will go up against current Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison in November.

Schutz said one major priority for him as attorney general would be combating fraud in Minnesota.

“Everyone agrees Minnesota has a massive fraud problem,” he said.

However, Schutz said Ellison has not done enough to address the problem. The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office is a primary regulator for nonprofits, and has broad powers to fight fraud, Schutz said.

“This attorney general hasn’t really done that,” he said. “He has failed to be proactive in rooting out fraud.”

If elected, Schutz said, he would take a more aggressive stance on stopping fraud. “There are a number of things that can be done to be proactive,” he said.

Some Minnesota state legislators have supported the idea of having an independent inspector general’s office to fight fraud. If an independent investigative agency was approved, Schutz said, it could also be a positive thing.

“It would be more boots on the ground,” he said.

Schutz said some of his other priorities included girls’ and women’s sports, and supporting law enforcement in Minnesota.

“Keith Ellison is currently leading what I call the war on girls’ sports,” Schutz said.

Schutz criticized Ellison’s legal opinion that Minnesota human rights laws allow transgender athletes to compete in school sports consistent with their gender identity.

“His reading of the Minnesota Human Rights Act is completely wrong,” Schutz said.

He said he Minnesota Human Rights Act has a provision saying it is not a discriminatory practice for an educational institution to restrict membership of an athletic team to one sex.

Schutz said he would reverse Ellison’s opinion if elected attorney general.

Support for law enforcement was another key priority for Schutz. He said pushes to defund or eliminate police in some Minnesota communities in recent years has had a negative effect on law enforcement.

“I’ve talked to a number of police officers and chiefs of police. They are having trouble recruiting,” Schutz said. “Just having me in the office (of attorney general) will change the narrative around law enforcement.”

Schutz said his past experience as an attorney would help him with other core functions of the attorney general’s office, like consumer protection. As a lawyer he frequently represented individuals against large corporations, he said. “I’ve walked the talk.”

So far in his campaign, Schutz said he’s mostly had the opportunity to speak with groups of Republican voters. After Minnesota state conventions, he plans to hold more town hall-style events.