In the last few years, Minnesota has become one of the most recognizable places around the world for all the wrong reasons. From riots, to shootings, to welfare fraud, Minnesota has garnered a national reputation for chaos and mismanagement.
On Tuesday, Democrat Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan published a social media statement which said, “I love Minnesota. I’m proud to be a Minnesotan. Who wouldn’t be?”
That tweet was an apparent jab at Republican Michele Tafoya, Flanagan’s opponent in this year’s race for U.S. Senate in Minnesota.
In recent days, Tafoya has been criticized for sympathizing with Minnesotans who say it is embarrassing to tell other people they are from Minnesota. Tafoya has also been criticized for a 2024 post in which she appears to say she will be “fleeing” Minnesota “soon.”
While Flanagan’s tweet appeared to be an attempt at shaming Tafoya, Flanagan herself has a history of making controversial comments about Minnesota.
In the days following George Floyd’s death in 2020, Flanagan did an interview with NPR where she said, “We’ve got a really incredible state — if you’re white. If you are a person of color, if you are indigenous, if you are an immigrant or refugee, the opposite is true.”
Later in that same NPR interview, Flanagan said Minnesota “has been built” on “white supremacy” and “unless we tackle it in a really aggressive way, we are not going to see the systematic change that we need.”
The following year, Flanagan issued a lengthy public statement in response to the shooting of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center. Wright was shot and killed in April of 2021 by a police officer who mistook her firearm for her Taser during a traffic stop.
In her statement reacting to Wright’s death, Flanagan said, “I am grappling with the stark reality: Minnesota is a place where it is not safe to be Black.”
The statement went on to call for “rethinking policing and rethinking crowd control when people express righteous and justifiable outrage that our state is not safe for Black people.”
“What is abundantly clear is that this is our reputation, and this is our shame,” she continued.
Alpha News contacted Flanagan’s campaign to ask whether she still believes Minnesota is not safe for black people. Additionally, the lieutenant governor and Senate candidate was asked if she still believes Minnesota is built on white supremacy.
However, the Flanagan campaign did not respond to questions prior to publication.
Just hours after Alpha News reached out to the Flanagan campaign with those questions, Flanagan published a video about her love for Minnesota in which she said, “I’ve lived here my entire life, and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
Conversely, Tafoya is originally from California and moved to Minnesota in 1994.
Flanagan and Tafoya are competing in what could become a close race for a Minnesota seat in the U.S. Senate. While Flanagan benefits from Minnesota’s leftward political lean, Tafoya is one of the strongest candidates Republicans have fielded in years.
According to the most recent campaign finance records, Flanagan’s campaign has raised over $6.51 million since she launched her candidacy in February of 2025. Meanwhile, Tafoya has raised over $5.29 million since jumping into the race in January of 2026.
As of July 30, Tafoya has over $1.33 million in cash on hand while Flanagan has over $1.05 million in campaign cash.
Fraud, the Iran War, prices, and the Trump administration are among the many topics that will likely dominate the fall campaign between Flanagan and Tafoya.
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
