10 things to know about Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota’s next U.S. senator
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Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan made history on Tuesday when she became the first Native American woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate.
The 47-year-old defeated Republican nominee Michele Tafoya.
Flanagan will take over the position held by U.S. Sen. Tina Smith. Smith has held the seat since 2018 and will retire at the end of her term.
If you’re new to Minnesota politics, here’s what to know about the senator-elect.
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1) Flanagan is nation’s first female Native American senator
Flanagan is a member of the White Earth Nation in northwest Minnesota. Her father was White Earth activist Marvin Manypenny, who died in 2020.
2) Flanagan grew up in St. Louis Park, Minn.
Her mother, Patricia Flanagan, raised her as a single parent with help from public programs such as Section 8 housing and food assistance. She attended St. Louis Park public schools.
3) Flanagan is married with one child
Flanagan resides in St. Louis Park with her husband and daughter. She and husband Tom Weber married in 2019. Flanagan’s daughter, 13-year-old Siobhan, is from a previous marriage.
4) Flanagan has held several elected positions
Flanagan’s first elected office was a seat on the Minneapolis Board of Education, where she served from 2005 to 2009.
She represented St. Louis Park as a member of the Minnesota State Legislature from 2015 until she was picked by Gov. Tim Walz to be his lieutenant governor in 2018, resigning in 2019 after they won.
Flanagan was the first Native American person and first woman of color elected to statewide office in Minnesota.
5) Flanagan said her campaign was ‘about the many versus the money’
Her campaign priorities include:
Expanding Medicare to cover everyone
Raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $17 an hour
Restoring nationwide protections for abortion
Ending the Trump administration’s mass deportations and dismantling U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
6) Flanagan got her start in politics as a college student
Flanagan got her start in politics as a college student working on the campaign of the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, organizing for the urban Native American community.
Flanagan earned a bachelor’s degree in child psychology with a minor in American Indian studies from the University of Minnesota in 2002.
7) Flanagan trained other political candidates
After Wellstone’s death, Flanagan spent nearly a decade at Wellstone Action, the organization founded to carry on his work. She trained activists, organizers and candidates there and founded its Native American Leadership Program.
Flanagan trained Gov. Tim Walz before he ever ran for office. The two met at Camp Wellstone, and she knocked on doors for his first congressional campaign.
8) Flanagan led the Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota
Before joining the state Legislature, Flanagan led Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota, a child advocacy nonprofit. As part of her work there she helped push the successful 2014 campaign to raise the state’s minimum wage.
9) Flanagan is a singer
She and fellow state Rep. Mike Freiberg once performed “Purple Rain” on the floor of the Minnesota House after Prince died in 2016.
Flanagan has also sung “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a Vikings game in 2015 and a St. Paul Saints game in 2018.
10) Flanagan called the Minnesota State Fair ‘the most wonderful time of the year’
Flanagan says she goes to the Minnesota State Fair every year, a place where she has “never been more proud to be Minnesotan," with the event encapsulating what she says is the best of Minnesota and its communities.
