Yesterday, Rep. Angie Craig discovered that she had shredded her carefully tended image as a moderate for nothing, as DFL primary voters handed the Senate nomination to her opponent, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, by a wide margin.
Flanagan has been involved in politics her entire adult life. She was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2015 and served two terms. In 2018, she was elected to serve as Lieutenant Governor, deputy to Governor Tim Walz, a position she has held throughout Walz’ tenure.
The Lieutenant Governorship is a role with little actual power, and Flanagan has used the position to promote far left causes, such as an opposition to enforcement of federal immigration laws. In her acceptance speech last night, she called, once again, for abolition of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and replacing Chuck Schumer as Senate Democratic leader with a “progressive champion.” She has also supported the imposition of Minnesota’s unpopular new state flag and the provision of sex change operations for children.
To the extent that she has built up an actual record over her last eight years in office, it is the same record as that of Walz, which is dreadful.
Of course, her opponent, former sportscaster Michele Tafoya, also has little in the way of political achievements to point to. We will assess Tafoya’s proposals in due course, but she can, at least, make the excuse that she hasn’t been a politician for the last ten years and deputy to the governor for the last eight.
