Flanagan Beats Tafoya in Minnesota Senate Race
The Facts
- Democrat Peggy Flanagan defeated Republican Michele Tafoya in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race Tuesday, taking about 54% of the vote to Tafoya's roughly 43%. Flanagan won the seven-county Twin Cities metro by a nearly 2-to-1 ratio.
- Flanagan, the state's lieutenant governor, will be the first Native American woman elected to the U.S. Senate and the first person of color to win a Minnesota Senate seat. The race was called at 12:20 a.m.
- The contest filled the seat of retiring Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat. Minnesota has not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since Norm Coleman's victory in 2002, and Tafoya, a sports journalist, was a first-time candidate.
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The Spin
Democratic narrative
Peggy Flanagan is the right senator because working households need bold relief on health care, child care and the crushing cost of daily life, not more culture-war noise. A leader shaped by real scarcity will stand up to the rich and powerful and push public programs toward people in need rather than fraudsters. Affordability for working families beats the status quo every time.
Republican narrative
Peggy Flanagan in the Senate rewards a tenure marked by fraud scandals and excuses that pin home-state failures on a president. Fiscal responsibility, secure borders and law and order would serve families better than big promises from the same political circle. Integrity and family-first leadership beat another round of eroded trust.
