Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan won the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, defeating Rep. Angie Craig. According to a race call by the Associated Press, Flanagan secured the nomination as part of a trend of wins for the progressive wing of the Democratic party ahead of the midterm elections.
The primary followed a campaign where the two candidates differed on issues such as healthcare, Israel, and affordability. Flanagan, who had the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), followed a similar win by epidemiologist Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Senate primary last week. Rep. Craig entered the race with a fundraising advantage and endorsements from figures such as former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).
With 99% of results reported by the Associated Press, Flanagan received 59.0% of the vote (411,767 votes) compared to 39.4% for Craig (274,860 votes). During the campaign, Flanagan proposed expanding Medicare to cover everyone and ending federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Craig, meanwhile, had previously supported the Laken Riley Act and attempted to link Flanagan to fraud within state government programs.
The scale of the primary results shows a clear division within the state's Democratic electorate, with more than 686,000 people casting ballots in this specific race. While Flanagan won by a margin of nearly 20 percentage points, the candidates' differing views on immigration enforcement and state government oversight were central themes. Voters in Minnesota will now choose between Flanagan’s platform and that of Republican nominee Michele Tafoya, who won her primary with 52.1% of the Republican vote, or 211,777 votes.
A victory in the general election would give Flanagan a seat in the U.S. Senate, where she would be in a position to vote on federal spending and judicial appointments. Her campaign emphasized her personal history with government food assistance and Medicaid, signaling that her legislative focus would center on defending and expanding these social safety net programs. The general election will determine whether Minnesota sends a representative focused on these shifts or one aligned with the Republican platform during the midterm cycle. The general election date was not reported in the source.