Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a progressive Democrat who has accused Israel of “genocide” and said she would have voted to cut off military aid to the Jewish state, won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, handing the party’s anti-Israel left another high-profile victory.
Flanagan defeated centrist Rep. Angie Craig, a supporter of Israel who had received endorsements from the pro-Israel group AIPAC in previous elections and whose position on the Jewish state became a point of attack during the primary.
The result came just one week after progressive Abdul El-Sayed won a bitter Democratic Senate primary in Michigan, further underscoring the strength of the party’s left flank in contests where Israel and U.S. support for the Jewish state have become increasingly divisive issues.
Flanagan will face former NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, who won the Republican Senate primary on Tuesday.
The Democratic contest to replace retiring Sen. Tina Smith pitted two sharply different wings of the party against one another.
Craig lined up endorsements from establishment Democrats including House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and senators from competitive states. She pointed to her record of winning closely fought elections in a suburban Twin Cities district and presented herself as a candidate capable of appealing to swing voters.
Flanagan, meanwhile, was backed by prominent progressives including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, as well as Smith.
Israel emerged as one of the defining fault lines between the candidates.
Flanagan has accused Israel of committing “genocide” and said she would have voted for legislation seeking to cut off U.S. military assistance to the country.
Craig was among the minority of House Democrats who voted against that effort, maintaining her support for U.S. military assistance to Israel.
Flanagan also repeatedly highlighted Craig’s past endorsements from AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and sought to cast the race as a fight against the influence of wealthy donors and outside groups.
She emphasized during the campaign that she did not accept “AIPAC money.”
AIPAC, however, did not endorse Craig in the Senate primary and did not directly spend money on her behalf in the race.
Craig’s past support from the organization nevertheless became a political liability among progressive voters, reflecting the widening divide inside the Democratic Party over Israel.
“I love that she doesn’t take any corporate money, she doesn’t take any money from AIPAC,” Flanagan supporter Andrea Ropella said. “The things that she says, she believes in and she stands for.”
The race was also shaped heavily by immigration policy and the Trump administration’s enforcement campaign in Minnesota.
Rep. Angie Craig (R) with her wife Cheryl Greene
(Photo: AP)
Flanagan attacked Craig for voting for the Laken Riley Act, a Trump-backed immigration measure passed early in the president’s second term. Craig later repudiated her support after federal immigration officers shot and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
The killings, both captured on camera, fueled a backlash against Trump’s immigration policies and became a major issue in the closing stages of the primary.
Gov. Tim Walz declined to endorse either Democrat, although his wife, Gwen Walz, endorsed Craig late last month, a move viewed as a notable break with Flanagan, who has served as Walz’s running mate and governing partner for two terms.
On the Republican side, Tafoya emerged from a crowded field despite Trump declining to endorse a Senate candidate. She had support from the national GOP and defeated rivals including Marine veteran and former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze and conservative commentator Royce White.
Republicans also held a closely watched gubernatorial primary in which state House Speaker Lisa Demuth defeated Mike Lindell, the MyPillow founder and longtime Trump ally.
Trump had endorsed Lindell and wrote on social media Tuesday that he “deserves a BIG WIN.”
Mike Lindell
(Photo: AP)
Lindell has been one of the most persistent promoters of false claims that Trump’s 2020 election defeat was fraudulent. Some Minnesota Republicans had openly questioned whether his polarizing profile would make him unelectable in a general election.
Demuth will face Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who defeated six opponents to secure her party’s gubernatorial nomination.
Republicans have not won a statewide race in Minnesota since 2006, but they hope a major public-funds fraud scandal will give them an opening this year.
At least 65 people have been convicted in overlapping food-fraud cases stemming from investigations launched during the Biden administration. One former nonprofit leader was sentenced in May to 42 years in prison in connection with a $250 million fraud scheme.
Trump has cited the scandals in defending a sweeping immigration crackdown in Minnesota, which he initially said would focus on the state’s large Somali community.
For Democrats, however, Flanagan’s victory is likely to draw broader attention because of what it signals about the party’s internal battle over Israel.
Her win follows other recent successes by progressive candidates willing to sharply challenge longstanding Democratic support for the Jewish state, while candidates identified with the party establishment and the pro-Israel camp face growing pressure from primary voters.