MacLaughlin announces bid for Olmsted County Attorney

Karen MacLaughlin, a former prosecutor who now serves on the Rochester School Board, has announced a run for Olmsted County Attorney.

“Our community continues to evolve and grow, and it's time for the local justice system to evolve,” MacLaughlin said Tuesday in a written statement.

MacLaughlin worked as a prosecutor in the county attorney’s office from 1999 to 2016. Since 2019, she has advocated for low-income clients of a local legal aid nonprofit, focusing on family law – divorce, child custody, and orders for protection, according to the announcement.

In addition to her work as an attorney, MacLaughlin also serves as a member of the Rochester School Board. If elected as county attorney, MacLaughlin said she would step down from the school board role.

MacLaughlin said she decided to make a run for county attorney this cycle because she believes “reforming the County Attorney's Office is the first step to increasing fairness and removing systemic barriers that have historically created injustice and related distrust and harm.”

She pointed to the county attorney’s ability to set policy and exercise charging discretion in areas such as criminal and juvenile prosecution, child protection, mental health, and child support.

The role of Olmsted County Attorney has been held by Mark Ostrem since 2007. Ostrem last won re-election in 2018 with two-thirds of the vote.

The county attorney serves as chief prosecutor for the jurisdiction — overseeing an office of nearly two dozen assistant attorneys.

Cover photo: MacLaughlin / Submitted