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Douglas G. "Doug" Wardlow (born July 3, 1978) is an American attorney and a former Minnesota state representative from District 38B.

He is the Republican nominee in the 2018 Minnesota Attorney General election.

Early life, education, and legal career

Wardlow graduated from Eagan High School in Eagan, Minnesota, where he was one of the four valedictorians of his class. He attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., studied Mandarin Chinese at Beijing University in Beijing, China, and graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a B.A. in Political Theory with a minor in Mandarin Chinese.

Wardlow earned his J.D., cum laude from Georgetown Law Center. During law school, he also spent a summer clerking at the law firm of Lee and Li in Taipei, Taiwan. He also returned to Beijing University, completing English-language coursework on Chinese law. After graduating law school, Wardlow served as a judicial law clerk for Associate Justice G. Barry Anderson of the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Following his judicial clerkship, Wardlow worked as a litigation attorney for Minneapolis law firm of Parker Rosen, where he specialized in eminent domain, employment law and business law. Wardlow also worked with international trade law.

Minnesota House of Representatives (2011-2013)

Wardlow was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2010. The district was formerly represented by Wardlow's father, Lynn Wardlow, and includes portions of the city of Eagan in Dakota County, in the southeastern Twin Cities metropolitan area. He served on the Civil Law, Judiciary Policy and Finance, and Taxes committees, and on the Taxes Subcommittee for the Property and Local Tax Division. He narrowly lost his bid for reelection in 2012 to Democrat Laurie Halverson, in the newly created District 51B. Wardlow wrote a bill that sought to prohibit the creation of health care exchanges, which were a component of the Affordable Care Act. Wardlow's bill did not become law. Wardlow sought to get a constitutional amendment enshrining so-called "right to work".

Alliance Defending Freedom (2014-2017)

Wardlow worked for Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal advocacy non-profit based in Scottsdale, Arizona; he left the group when he when launched his bid to become Minnesota Attorney General in 2018. In 2017, Wardlow testified in an Anoka-Hennepin school board meeting against allowing transgender students to access facilities in accordance with their gender.

Wardlow has argued that transgender students using bathrooms reflecting their gender threatens the safety and privacy of other students, and that requiring students to refer to transgender people in accordance with their gender identities violates students' free speech rights under the First Amendment. In 2016, Wardlow won a federal case in which the court ruled that "a metro Detroit funeral home did not discriminate against an employee when it fired her for transitioning from a man into a woman transgender individuals are not a protected class under federal employment laws the funeral home be forced to make employment decisions that go against its sincerely held religious beliefs".

Alliance Defending Freedom has been labeled an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a liberal nonprofit that specializes in civil rights litigation.

2018 Minnesota Attorney General election

On August 14, 2018, Wardlow won the Republican primary for Attorney General of Minnesota. He faces Democratic U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, among other candidates. He had previously been endorsed by the Republican Party at its June 2, 2018 state convention.

During his 2018 campaign for Minnesota Attorney General, Wardlow stated that he would enforce same-sex marriage laws; however, Wardlow previously opposed gay marriage and the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which he described in 2015 as a "tyrannical impulse". Wardlow has stated that he would not join other Republican attorney generals who sued to overturn the Affordable Care Act. During his campaign for Minnesota Attorney General, Wardlow stated the office is not a "policymaking position" and would refrain from anything "legislative in scope."

Wardlow has said that, if elected, he will "fire 42 Democratic attorneys right off the bat" from the Attorney General's Office, leading to criticism that he would politicize the office and make hiring decisions based on political loyalty rather than merit.

Personal life

Wardlow and his family have long been active in government and politics. While attending Georgetown University, he volunteered at the offices of U.S. Representative John Kline from Minnesota and U.S. Representative Gil Gutknecht from Minnesota, and also worked as a volunteer legal research clerk for U.S. Senator Charles Grassley from Iowa. His father, Lynn, also served as a Minnesota State Representative for the same district from 2003-2009. Wardlow resides in Prior Lake, Minnesota with his wife Jenny and three children.

References

1. ^ "Wardlow, Douglas "Doug" - Legislator Record - Minnesota Legislators Past & Present". www.leg.state.mn.us.
2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved January 25, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
3. "Parker / Rosen". www.parkerrosen.com. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
4. ^ Van Berkel, Jessie. "Doug Wardlow says he'll set aside partisan past if elected attorney general". /www.startribune.com. Minneapolis Star Tribune. Retrieved October 26, 2018.
5. "Wardlow, Douglas "Doug" - Legislator Record - Minnesota Legislators Past & Present". www.house.leg.state.mn.us.
6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 18, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
7. ^ "Doug Wardlow says he'll set aside partisan past if elected attorney general". Star Tribune. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
8. "Douglas G. Wardlow - a Scottsdale, Arizona (AZ) Business & Commercial Law Lawyer". pview.findlaw.com. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
9. ^ Alliance Defending Freedom Through The Years. Southern Poverty Law Center, 2017
10. How The Hate Group Alliance Defending Freedom Is Infiltrating Public Schools.
11. "ADF warns school districts: Minnesota Dept. of Education guidelines violate student privacy rights - Alliance Defending Freedom". www.adfmedia.org. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
12. Federal court upholds firing of transgender funeral director. Detroit Free Press, 18 August 2016
13. https://www.mied.uscourts.gov/pdffiles/14-13710opn.pdf
14. "Statewide Results for Attorney General". Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
15. Van Berkel, Jessie; Rao, Maya (June 2, 2018). "DFL endorses Pelikan for AG after Swanson drops bid for party nod". Star Tribune. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
16. "Faith leaders denounce Wardlow mailers attacking Keith Ellison". Star Tribune. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
17. Supreme Court disavows truth about marriage, pits faith against law. Fox News. Doug Wardlow, June 26, 2015.
18. Marriage equality is a ‘tyrannical impulse,’ says Alliance Defending Freedom lawyer. Colorado Independent. Kyle Harris, June 26, 2015
19. Wardlow says he'd fire Democrats in Minnesota AG's office. Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 12 October 2018
20. "Wardlow, Lynn - Legislator Record - Minnesota Legislators Past & Present". www.leg.state.mn.us.

External links

• Doug Wardlow at Minnesota Legislators Past & Present
• Rep. Wardlow Web Page
• Project Votesmart - Rep. Doug Wardlow Profile
• Parker Rosen Law Firm Profile: Doug Wardlow
• Archived State House Web Site
• Doug Wardlow for Attorney General Web Site

• 1978 births
• Living people
• Georgetown University alumni
• Georgetown University Law Center alumni
• Minnesota lawyers
• People from Eagan, Minnesota
• Members of the Minnesota House of Representatives
• Minnesota Republicans
• 21st-century American politicians
• Christians from Minnesota