Congresswoman Angie Craig lost her bid Tuesday night to become Minnesota’s first out LGBTQ U.S. Senator. Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan won the Democratic primary with 59% of the vote.
Going into Tuesday, the final polls had shown a tight race with some claiming Rep. Craig had the lead, albeit within the margin of error.
But when election returns started to come in, warning signs came in early that Rep. Craig’s path to victory was far more limited than those polls suggested. For most of the night, she even trailed Flanagan in Congressional District 2, which Rep. Craig has represented since 2018.
Ultimately, in CD-2’s Dakota county she won by only 54 votes. In Rice county she won by a mere 26 votes.
Meanwhile Flanagan ran up the numbers in greater Minnesota. In St. Louis county, home to Duluth, Flanagan won 68% of the vote. In neighboring Lake County she won 70% of the vote and in Cook county 71%.
The race was called for Flanagan just before 10:30pm when Hennepin county, in a rare move, dropped all of their voting results at once. Flanagan won that county by 28%.
“I have said since day one my top priority is making sure we beat MAGA Michelle Tafoya and hold this Senate seat in November,” Rep. Craig told supporters in her concession speech. “In that spirit I just called the Lieutenant Governor to congratulate her on her hard fought victory – and to offer her my full and complete support going forward.”
Rep. Craig gave her supporters an emphatic endorsement of Flanagan and noted the historic nature of the race.
“The election was a choice between two women,” she said. “And it’s a great damn day to see women running even against each other.”
Minnesota is one of only a handful of states to be represented by only women in the U.S. Senate. That will continue no matter who prevails in the general election this fall as the race is between Tafoya and Flanagan.
While Craig would have been Minnesota’s first out LGBTQ U.S. Senator, if elected in November Flanagan would be Minnesota’s first Native American U.S. Senator.
The Human Rights Campaign, Equality PAC, and LGBTQ+ Victory Fund had all endorsed Craig. The Christopher Street Project endorsed Flanagan. They noted Craig’s lack of support for the Trans Bill of Rights as a reason for not endorsing her, along with feedback they’d received from Minnesota leaders including Rep. Leigh Finke (DFL).
Still Could Be Senator in January 2027?
If Senator Amy Klobuchar wins her race to be Minnesota’s next Governor, then her U.S. Senate seat will open up. And she will have the sole power to name her successor.
She could appoint Craig to that seat, though she has not given any indication as to whom she would appoint if she is elected. If Klobuchar appointed Craig, she would serve temporarily in the Senate and have to run in a special election.
Such an opportunity to temporarily serve in the U.S. Senate could give Craig the opportunity to address the major attacks raised against her during the campaign.
First and foremost her vote for the Laken-Riley act which expanded the powers of the Department of Homeland Security and consequently ICE. She was the only Democrat from Minnesota’s Congressional delegation (House and Senate) to vote for it. She eventually claimed she regretted her vote and pointed to subsequent votes she’d taken against Trump. But her vote for Laken-Riley persisted as a major line of attack by Flanagan and her supporters.
Additionally, Flanagan attacked Craig for accepting campaign donations from AIPAC while she served in the House. Craig did not take any money from the controversial PAC during her Senate campaign.
According to analysis by MinnPost, North Star Dawn PAC spent $7 million dollars to help elect Craig. While Unite to Win and Minnesotans for Progress and Center Forward together spent nearly $6 million. As the donors to these PACs are unknown that classifies them as “dark money.”
In addition to accepting AIPAC money as a Congresswoman, Craig has refused to call Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide. In a debate with Flanagan on MPR News, she said the term “genocide” does not help create a two-state solution. Moreover, in 2023, she voted to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib for her comments on Israel’s actions in Gaza, in particular for using the phrase “From the river to the sea.”
Craig explained after the vote, “The censure is not a perfect tool, but I felt that I had to express my strong disagreement with my colleague after she defended her use of this phrase and continues to promote disinformation.”
In defending Tlaib, Rep. Jamie Raskin argued on the House floor, “This resolution not only degrades our Constitution, but it cheapens the meaning of discipline in this body for people who actually commit wrongful actions like bribery, fraud, violent assault and so on.”
Back to fundraising, Flanagan vowed not to accept corporate PAC dollars. However, according to that same MinnPost analysis, the Democratic Lieutenant Governor’s Association (DLGA) political action committee spent $2.5 million dollars on her behalf. The Forward Movement Foundation is a top donor to the DLGA and they also do not disclose their donors. Additionally, they have donated $4 million dollars to AIPAC.
In the meantime, Democrats seem laser-focused to unite and continue their twenty-year winning streak at state-level races. No Republican has been elected in a state-wide race since 2006.
