Candidate Spotlight: Peggy Flanagan
Peggy Flanagan begins her campaign stump speeches by stating that she wants to introduce herself in the traditional way, in the Ojibwe language. She follows this by saying, “My name is Peggy Flanagan. My Ojibwe name [Gizhiiwewidamookwe] is Speaks in a Loud and Clear Voice Woman.”
Flanagan, the Minnesota lieutenant governor, is the daughter of Marvin Manypenny, an Anishinaabe activist who fought tirelessly for tribal sovereignty for Native people in the United States. Her mother, Patricia Elizabeth Flanagan, was a lifetime activist in the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (“DFL”). She worked on Hubert Humphrey’s presidential campaign. Her grandmother, mother and aunts were Irish social-justice activists for decades.
It was not surprising that Flanagan walked into Sen. Paul Wellstone’s campaign office, at age 22, and decided to work to re-elect him to the U.S. Senate. After Sen. Wellstone died in an airplane accident, Flanagan got a job with Wellstone Action, as a trainer for organizers, elected officials and candidates. It was there where she met Tim Walz before his first term in Congress and before he became Minnesota’s governor. Flanagan subsequently worked for the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches’ Division of Indian Work, where she did outreach work between Native families and the Minneapolis school board. She then was elected to be a member of that school board.
After serving a term on that board, Flanagan became executive director of Children’s Defense Fund – Minnesota, where she advocated in 2014 for a measure that increased the minimum wage for Minnesotans. She was elected to the Minnesota legislature, in which she and other representatives formed the Minnesota House Native American Caucus. She also focused on issues involving children.
In 2017, she was elected to be lieutenant governor, along with Gov. Walz. She has been a driving force in Minnesota’s expansion of tribal consultation with state government agencies. She also worked on paid family and medical leave, free school meals, the state child tax credit, housing, and child care for Minnesota families.
Sen. Tina Smith announced in 2025 that she would not be running for re-election. Flanagan announced her candidacy, in a race against Rep. Angie Craig, a moderate Democrat, for the DFL nomination. What won Flanagan the DFL primary, more than anything else, was Operation Metro Surge, the ICE assault on Minnesota this last winter.
Craig was one of only 46 Democrats who voted for the Laken Riley Act, a law that allows ICE to detain undocumented immigrants who have been accused, but not convicted, of having committed theft, burglary, shoplifting, or assaulting law enforcement. Craig also voted for a nonbinding resolution that praised the work of ICE. Those votes were unpopular with Minnesota Democrats, who had participated in actions that monitored, protested, and agitated against the actions of ICE, including the murders of Renee Good and Alexender Pretti.
Flanagan said that “a lot of the organizing work that was done to support our neighbors … shifted to support making sure people were turning out to vote in this primary, and I think will continue to be what fuels this campaign.” That prediction turned out to be true. Many of the activists who opposed that ICE operation campaigned for Flanagan. She has said that she “want[s] to avenge Minnesota” for ICE’s Metro Surge.
In her victory speech after winning the primary, Flanagan accused Michele Tafoya, the Republican nominee, to being “all in with Trump when ICE was terrorizing our neighbors.” Flanagan added that “she even said ICE treated children really, really well.”
Flanagan has advocated for the abolition of ICE. She also proposed an increase in the minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $17 per hour, adjusted in the future for inflation. In addition, she supports the PRO Act and has vowed to fight every day to protect the right to negotiate for fair wages and safe workplaces.
Flanagan is a ‘Speaks in a Loud and Clear Voice ‘Woman. If the August polls accurately predict the November election results, she will be the next U.S. Senator for Minnesota.
Written by Barry Roseman, SU4W Board Member
