‘Defund the Police’ Movement Finds an Ally in Swing-District Minnesota Dem’s Office
Angie Craig's top state staffer endorsed defund movement, promoted group that bails out violent criminals
A swing-district Minnesota Democrat is scrambling to distance herself from a top state staffer who called to defund police and promoted a radical group that pays to bail out violent criminals.
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.
Young's far-left stances on crime and policing undermine Craig's attempts to distance herself from the defund movement. The Democrat's district includes the suburbs of Minneapolis, which experienced widespread riots and sky-high crime rates following protests in the wake of George Floyd's death. Anti-police activists used the event to push a
failed ballot initiative that aimed to dismantle the city's police department. Craig
publicly opposed the measure but
declined to actively campaign against it following criticism from her party's left wing.
'Defund the Police' Movement Finds an Ally In Swing-District Minnesota Dem's Office