Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan secured her Senate primary victory by criticizing her Democratic opponent’s alignment with the GOP on immigration issues. In contrast, Republicans are kicking off the general election campaign by steering clear of the topic.
Michele Tafoya, the GOP’s Senate nominee, along with the Senate Republicans’ campaign committee, have chosen not to address immigration or ICE in their initial critiques of Flanagan. Instead, they are concentrating on associating the lieutenant governor with a major welfare scandal that has affected the state.
Following her primary win, Tafoya stated in a statement and television interviews that Democrats are leading Minnesota “in the wrong direction,” citing issues such as fraud, declining test scores, and crime.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who leads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, commented that Flanagan “oversaw the worst fraud scandal in modern American history” and is now considered “one of the most radical socialist Senate candidates on the map.”
This Republican approach comes as President Donald Trump intensifies immigration enforcement prior to November. However, his deportation policies are increasingly unpopular among voters. A July Economist/YouGov survey found that a majority of Americans, including 91 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of independents but only 19 percent of Republicans, believe ICE has used excessive force. Minnesota has been particularly affected by this issue, following the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents earlier this year.
Flanagan remains outspoken.
“Michele Tafoya backed Trump when ICE was terrorizing our neighbors,” Flanagan declared in her victory speech on Tuesday night. “The last thing this country needs is to give Donald Trump another ‘yes, sir’ senator.”
Republicans are starting the general election with significant challenges in a predominantly Democratic state that hasn’t elected a Republican to the Senate since 2002, and where Trump is notably unpopular. Flanagan’s triumph over Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.)—whom she criticized for supporting the Laken Riley Act and a resolution that praised ICE—highlights how crucial the immigration issue is in Minnesota.
Ron Harris, a Democratic strategist and former Minnesota congressional candidate who backed Flanagan in the primary, stated that Republicans “hold the bag for [Operation] Metro Surge, and we haven’t forgotten it here in Minnesota, especially with the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.”
Democrats are striving to put Republicans on the defensive regarding immigration issues nationwide as the Trump administration’s crackdown proceeds. Sen. Susan Collins, one of the most vulnerable Republicans, has faced protests for voting to fund ICE after Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was killed by a federal immigration agent in Maine last month. Some Republicans have distanced themselves from the Trump administration’s policies.
Despite this, Flanagan has been cautious about how far she pushes her stance, choosing not to call for the abolition of ICE, unlike some of her progressive peers in other states, such as Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and Juliana Stratton in Illinois.
When asked by POLITICO earlier this week if she was advocating for the abolition of ICE, Flanagan responded: “I’m saying we need to rip it apart.”
Samuel Benson and Alec Hernández contributed to this report.
