Vulnerable Democrat Rep. Angie Craig (MN) has attempted to hide her anti-law enforcement history by recently reversing her stance on eliminating qualified immunity for police officers before a tough reelection battle.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported this month that Craig, who will face Republican Tyler Kistner in November, is trying to reverse some of her previous stances after she voted for anti-law enforcement legislation to eliminate qualified immunity for police officers and to defund the police.
Craig told the Star Tribune that her “thinking has evolved” since she voted for the anti-law enforcement legislation.
“Knowing what I know now and how attacks on law enforcement have negatively impacted recruitment and retention and morale and how these factors hurt public safety efforts,” Craig added. “I think that qualified immunity must remain in place for our law enforcement officers.”
Last year, Craig cosponsored and voted for H.R. 1280, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021, which would effectively “defund the police” if signed into law by costing hundreds of millions of dollars each year, enact restrictions on policing practices, and eliminate protections for law enforcement. Republicans described the bill as a plan to “defund the police.”
Craig even voted against condemning calls to defund the police.
The Democrats, in their anti-police voting spree last year, wanted to use the bill to eliminate qualified immunity for law enforcement. The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) explained that “qualified immunity is an essential part of policing,” and eliminating it “would have a profoundly chilling effect on police officers and limit their ability and willingness to respond to critical incidents without hesitation.”
An analysis of the bill from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) at the time said that the bill would cost more than 18,000 police departments around the country significant amounts of money. “More than 18,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide would be affected by the bill’s requirements,” the CBO said in a letter to top congressional Republicans.
In fact, the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association (MPPOA) — which Craig announced on Tuesday endorsed her — even lobbied the state’s congressional delegation to oppose the federally qualified immunity change, according to their spokeswoman Leslie Rosedahl.
In November 2021, Craig also traveled to Los Angeles to fundraise with the Heart of LA Democratic Club, a far-left group that has repeatedly backed calls to defund police. However, the Heart of LA Democratic Club is not the only group backing Craig that supports defunding police departments.
The congresswoman has been supported by radical defund the police groups in the past, taking tens of thousands of dollars from groups such as Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, NARAL, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s pro-defund the police super PAC that reportedly has a “litmus test” that requires candidates seeking their endorsement to promise they would “reduce the annual budget for law enforcement.
Additionally, the Washington Free Beacon, in February, reported that Craig’s top staffer, Liz Young, backed the movement to defund police in a June 2020 tweet while also writing, “fund counselors not cops”:
Rep. Angie Craig’s district director, Liz Young, backed the movement to defund police in a June 2020 tweet, writing that cities should “fund counselors not cops.” On the same day, Young shared a report on police-involved deaths in New York with the caption “Burn. It. All. Down.” She later downplayed the literal burning down of a police station in Minneapolis, arguing that if the station was replaced with a health care clinic or library, “it would do infinitely more good.” Young also encouraged her followers to contribute to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, a radical nonprofit that supports defunding police and works to free heinous criminals, including an alleged child rapist and an accused domestic abuser who was arrested for murder just weeks after his release.
With all of this, Mike Berg, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), slammed Craig’s record on law enforcement, telling Breitbart News, “No matter how hard Angie Craig tries, she can’t hide her anti-law enforcement record. Angie Craig will always stand with anti-police radicals when it counts.”
The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association did not respond to a comment request from Breitbart News.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
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