Mary Moriarty spent her entire career trying to keep people out of prison as a public defender.

After being ousted as Hennepin County’s Chief Public Defender, she’s now running to be county attorney to transform an agency she spent decades fighting against.

If Moriarty wins, Minneapolis and its suburbs would follow cities like San Francisco and Philadelphia in electing a defense attorney who promise to remake the prosecutor’s office — replacing a tough on crime agenda with one of criminal justice reform.