Angie Craig

By Peter Cox

Minnesota’s already heated U.S. Senate race promised to get a whole lot hotter after Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan won a competitive DFL primary race and Republican Michele Tafoya prevailed on the GOP side.

Both parties are bearing down for an expensive, intense race over the next three months.

Flanagan rode a liberal wave of support Tuesday to the DFL Senate nomination, aiming to become the first Native American woman to hold the office.

Flanagan, the current lieutenant governor, defeated a better-funded U.S. Rep. Angie Craig in the primary. Flanagan aligned with progressive figures like Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in the race, saying bold change within the party is essential.

Outside groups came in big for Craig, which Flanagan used as a call to stir her grassroots base. Flanagan had the DFL convention endorsement.

A Flanagan win in November would make history. There have been four other U.S. senators with Native American heritage. All have been men. Flanagan is a White Earth Band of Ojibwe member.

In a victory speech at the Minneapolis music venue First Avenue, Flanagan began with a “Miigwech,” the Ojibwe phrase for thank you.

She said the “many just won” — reprising her theme that the race was about the “many versus the money.” She extended a hand to Craig supporters.

“I will work my tail off to earn your votes and most importantly your trust because I need you in this fight. Minnesota needs you in this fight. Because Donald Trump has cost this state far too much already,” Flanagan said, labeling Tafoya a “loyal soldier.”

Tafoya, the former sports broadcaster, won her party’s primary over several candidates, including one endorsed at the May party convention.

Tafoya cruised past former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze, former basketball player Royce White and others on her way to the fall ballot. She was the favored candidate of national Republicans who are aiming to put the Minnesota race on the map in a year when the party is playing defense elsewhere.

"I am running to call balls and strikes to say, ‘I think the president is right on this one. I think the president is wrong on this one,’" Tafoya told MPR News in an interview after the race was called.

The president's immigration crackdown is one issue Tafoya said she disagreed with the president on.

"I did not like the way that that program rolled out, and we had a couple of tragic deaths," Tafoya said. "That is something that, fortunately, when Tom Homan came to town, seems to have been ironed out to a certain degree."

Republicans haven’t won a statewide election in Minnesota since 2006, but Tafoya hopes to appeal to enough independents to lift her in November.

After eight years in office, Democratic Sen. Tina Smith will give up the seat at the end of this term. It amounts to the first open Senate seat race in Minnesota in 20 years.

Smith’s DFL Party has seen a bruising and expensive race to decide who will get the spot on the fall ballot. More than $30 million was spent in the race between Flanagan and Craig, with the final tally expected to push even higher.

Their showdown has echoes of the progressive versus moderate primaries in many Democratic races throughout the country.

Flanagan attracted the endorsements of prominent liberal wing figures. Craig staked out a more-moderate lane.

In defeat, Craig pledged to do what she could to help put Flanagan over the top this November.

"I have said since day one that my top priority is making sure that we beat MAGA Michele Tafoya and hold this Senate seat in November. 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," Craig said.

The race largely focused on immigration and their response to the winter ICE surge.

Flanagan pounded on the fact that Craig voted for the Laken Riley Act, which gave the Trump administration greater power to detain immigrants suspected of crimes. It’s a vote she expressed regret for this spring.

Craig hit hard on fraud. She said Flanagan is vulnerable because she is part of Gov. Tim Walz's administration, which has struggled to contain financial abuse in social service programs.

Both hammered on the other’s campaign financing. Flanagan loudly touted her refusal of money from corporate political action committees but got help from a group that took them; Craig benefitted from outside backing to a greater degree and had to defend past donations.

Four other candidates vied for the nomination but ran lower-profile campaigns: Kurt Michael Anderson, George Kalberer, Peter Murgic and Billy Nord.

Schwarze left the GOP convention in May with the state party's endorsement in hand. But he struggled to raise money and garner attention.

The candidate getting more of both is Tafoya, who collected millions of dollars and gained backing from several leading senators and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

On Tuesday night, Schwarze said he wouldn’t support Tafoya as the party nominee.

“If you put Michele Tafoya and Angie Craig in a bucket and just pulled out their names, you wouldn't actually know which one's the Republican,” Schwarze said just before polls closed.

There was also White — the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 2024 — known for hard-line MAGA stances and a confrontational approach.

Tafoya's opponents have both criticized her on abortion — she does not support a ban on it — and her past remarks indicating support for red flag gun laws to remove firearms from people deemed a risk to themselves or others.

Tafoya’s allies say she’s the only one who can elevate the race on the national map and give the party a place to go on offense in a year when it is on defense elsewhere.

The GOP primary also included a handful of others: Bob Carney, Jr., Cynthia Gail, Ahmad Hassan, Joyce Lacey, Patrick Munro and Tom Weiler.

The November ballot will also include two other candidates, Independent Marisa Simonetti and Libertarian Rebecca Whiting.

It’s possible Minnesota could have two new U.S. senators come January if Sen. Amy Klobuchar wins in the governor’s race. That would knock the state way down the seniority list in a chamber where longevity means influence.

MPR News host Clay Masters contributed to this story.