Peggy Flanagan Wins Minnesota Senate Race
Democrat Peggy Flanagan won Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race on Tuesday, defeating Republican Michele Tafoya in one of the most closely watched contests of the 2026 midterms. The Associated Press called the race with all precincts reporting, handing Democrats a hold on a seat they could not afford to lose — and sending the state’s lieutenant governor to Washington with a historic first attached to her name.
Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Nation, will become the first Native American woman ever elected to the United States Senate.
A Decisive Win in a Closely Watched Race
With 99 percent of votes counted, Flanagan led with 53.7 percent of the vote to Tafoya’s 43.6 percent, according to FOX 9. The Associated Press recorded 1,520,869 votes for Flanagan with all 4,105 precincts reporting.
Her victory was built on commanding performances in Minnesota’s largest counties. Flanagan carried 15 of the state’s 87 counties, including Hennepin, Ramsey, Dakota, Anoka, Olmsted, St. Louis and Washington. Her strongest margins came in Ramsey County, where she led by 51.5 percentage points, and Hennepin County, where she held a 45.9-point advantage. She also carried Olmsted County by 18.9 points and St. Louis County by 22.3 points.
Tafoya, a former NFL television journalist, ran strongly across rural Minnesota, leading in 72 of the state’s 87 counties. But the rural margins were not enough to overcome Flanagan’s dominance in the Twin Cities metro area and other population centers. Hennepin County alone recorded the state’s largest vote total, with 664,237 votes cast.
A Historic First
Flanagan’s win carries a significance that goes well beyond Minnesota. She will be the first Native American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, a milestone in a chamber that has never had an Indigenous woman among its members.
The 47-year-old has served as Minnesota’s lieutenant governor since 2019, working alongside Gov. Tim Walz. Before that, she served in the Minnesota House of Representatives, where she built a reputation as a leading voice on children’s issues and tribal affairs. Her background as a citizen of the White Earth Nation shaped her public life long before she entered statewide office, and her campaign leaned into that identity as a source of strength rather than a footnote.
She will succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Tina Smith, who chose not to seek another term, leaving the seat open and turning the race into one of the cycle’s most expensive and closely followed Senate contests.
A Campaign Shaped by Scandal
The race drew national attention for reasons that had little to do with either candidate’s platform. Minnesota spent much of the campaign cycle under the shadow of a sprawling public-benefits fraud scandal, which dogged Flanagan’s campaign and contributed to Gov. Walz’s decision to abandon his bid for a third term.
Republicans made the scandal a central theme of their attacks, arguing that the state’s Democratic leadership had failed to catch the fraud sooner. Tafoya, a first-time candidate with a high public profile from her years on NFL broadcasts, presented herself as an outsider who would bring accountability to Washington.
Flanagan countered by focusing on kitchen-table issues — health care, child care and the cost of living — and by leaning on her deep roots in Minnesota politics. In the end, the state’s Democratic lean in statewide races proved stronger than the headwinds from the scandal.
What the Win Means for the Senate Map
Flanagan’s victory does not improve Democrats’ Senate math — they would need to net four seats to control the 100-seat chamber — but it prevents that math from getting worse. Holding Minnesota was a must-win for a party defending far more seats than Republicans in this cycle.
The result also extends a remarkable drought for Minnesota Republicans, who have not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 2002. Despite Tafoya’s strong showing in rural counties, the party’s statewide Senate losing streak continues into a third decade.
For Flanagan, the work now shifts from campaigning to governing. She will take her seat in a Senate where her party remains in the minority, but where her historic first — and her experience as one of the most prominent Native American officials in the country — will give her a national platform from day one.
Photo: Travellers & Tinkers / CC BY-SA 4.0
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