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Any screen, it seems, is a good place to launch an attack ad.

Local television, cable, YouTube and other streaming platforms are awash in political ads — a sign of a competitive U.S. Senate nomination race between two Democratic candidates. 

U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and outside groups have been buying up ad time across screens. The spots toggle between making their case or trying to torpedo their opponent. 

Some ads make the case for the candidate. 

“I’ve spent my life leading the fight to raise the minimum wage, pass paid leave, and actually help people. This is about who's on your side, and I'm with you,” Flanagan says in one ad.

"Washington has been rigging the game for a long time. I voted to impeach Trump twice, led the fight to stop insider trading, banned Congress from becoming lobbyists, and forced big pharma to lower costs,” Craig says in another.

But another, often more-caustic slough of ads make the rounds on those same platforms. 

Political action committees are pouring money into the race. They use their ad time to bash the opponent of their favored candidate. There, Craig is the lopsided beneficiary. One PAC, North Star Dawn, is airing hundreds of commercials per week — sometimes multiple ads during the same TV program. 

"Peggy Flanagan is hiding that she racked up special interest donations from big tobacco, big oil, even a company that builds ICE detention centers. That's who funded Peggy Flanagan. That's wrong,” one North Star Dawn ad says.

The ad is a response to commercials by a PAC promoting Flanagan — the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association. Flanagan has distanced herself from those donations for the national group where she was once the chair and has told the organization to return those donations.

Keep watching, and a response from DLGA attacking Craig will likely pop up. The group has targeted Craig's financial backers and donors and her prior votes on immigration enforcement legislation.

"DC insider Angie Craig, bankrolled by Trump donors, crypto and A.I. tech billionaires, but no amount of money can change the fact that Angie Craig was the only Minnesota Democrat to vote for Trump's bill giving ICE more power to detain our neighbors as they terrorized communities,” the DLGA ad says.

voiced regret for supporting the immigration measures

 early in 2025 as President Trump returned to the White House.

The key to all of these ads is, of course, money. 

PACs supporting Craig have put up millions of dollars so far, including $9.4 million from North Star Dawn as of this week. Other groups have added millions more supporting Craig. The DLGA has spent around $1.6 million on ads to date supporting Flanagan.

With so many spots on the air, it can sometimes feel like watching an argument that has poured from behind podiums onto screens.

During a press conference last week, Flanagan railed against the money flowing into ads attacking her.

"The flood of ads attempting to redeem Congresswoman Craig and attack my record are being paid for by five super PACs and outside dark money groups with no accountability to the people of Minnesota,” Flanagan said. “They've already spent more than $12 million which is about a ratio of about 10 to one."

“Minnesotans have to ask, what do they think they're buying? I think the answer is simple. They like the way that she votes,” Flanagan added.

At an event in St. Cloud, Craig said she can only control ads she's running — and there are a lot of those, too. But she said major races get rough and require a stiff spine. 

“I’ve had five competitive races. Outside groups have spent 50 million dollars running against me. I've never called a press conference to cry about it — not one time,” she said. “This is what it looks like to run in a competitive race. And you know, if the lieutenant governor thinks this is bad, wait until Republicans come after her.”

That’s actually a theme of a new ad from the Craig campaign, which features clips of news interviews with Republican strategists and political analysts.

“The Republicans are very much hoping that Flanagan is the nominee because they believe they have a much better chance against her than against Craig,” Carleton College professor Steven Schier says, during an interview with KSTP-TV political reporter Tom Hauser. The ad also quotes former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Meanwhile, the GOP side of the Senate race is far quieter, with less public sparring. 

Former sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya is running ads on local television and FOX News on cable. Her chief rivals in the August primary — Adam Schwarze and Royce White — have less money and, therefore, fewer ads.

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Election 2026 

Peter Cox

Author

In a closely contested battle for DFLers in the U.S. Senate primary, candidates and their backers are spending big on advertising. They’re bringing their case to every available screen they can find.

In heated Minnesota Senate primary, barrage of political ads is omen of more to come this fall

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