Tina Smith

The lieutenant governor defeated the former sports broadcaster in the race to replace retiring Sen. Tina Smith.

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan won Minnesota’s U.S. Senate election on Tuesday, as voters picked a progressive Democrat who ran as a foil to President Donald Trump and campaigned on lowering prices and establishing universal health coverage.

Flanagan overcame a vigorous challenge from former NFL sideline broadcaster Michele Tafoya, a candidate with rare star power and fundraising talent for a Minnesota Republican. Tafoya argued voters should hold Flanagan accountable for fraud in state social services programs under DFL watch and not elevate her to Congress.

But Tafoya’s fraud focus was not enough to flip a blue state that hasn’t sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 2002, especially on a night when Democrats clobbered the GOP in a national blue wave that reflected deep voter anger at Trump.

The result also may show the limits of — or backlash to — Trump and his relentless focus on Minnesota. The president launched an aggressive immigration crackdown, targeted Somali Americans and made unfounded accusations of widespread fraudulent voting. Minnesota has become a Republican punchline in the Trump era, but voters here have stuck by Democrats in statewide races.

“Minnesota, you just beat Donald Trump again,” Flanagan said in her victory speech Tuesday night. “You said no more war, no more health care cuts, no more taking food away from children and seniors. No more selling this country off to the highest bidder. And you said no more masked goons shooting our neighbors and terrorizing our communities.”

Flanagan’s win comes as Democrats won a majority in the U.S. Senate, paving the way for additional investigations and oversight into Trump and a more liberal agenda in Congress.

Her victory also caps a remarkable political rise. In 2024, Flanagan, 47, was poised to become governor if Tim Walz won his bid for vice president. But the two had a bitter falling out when the governor lost his national race, leaving Flanagan politically adrift.

She pivoted to an open U.S. Senate seat, demolishing a strong primary opponent in U.S. Rep. Angie Craig by rallying a Democratic base that was furious with Trump’s Operation Metro Surge. Flanagan will become the first Native American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, though Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola may join her in making history if she wins what is expected to be a close race.

Headed into Election Day, most polls showed a tight race between Flanagan and Tafoya. That bucked conventional wisdom as the GOP struggled in traditionally conservative states while voters soured on Trump.

It suggested Tafoya was making headway in Minnesota because voters were unhappy with fraud and nearly eight years of Walz’s administration, two issues Flanagan was more vulnerable on than other Democrats. Tafoya is also more moderate on several issues than most Republicans, particularly abortion.

Gail Jacobs Cohen, a radiographer voting at a church in eastern Duluth, voted for Democrat Amy Klobuchar in the race for governor, but Tafoya for Senate. Cohen said she liked that Tafoya described herself as a “pro-choice Republican.”

“I always say we should either have a conservative Democrat or a liberal Republican to get anything done,” Cohen said.

During the campaign, Tafoya sought to localize the race in Minnesota with an emphasis on fraud and public safety. Yet Flanagan nationalized it, relentlessly connecting Tafoya to Trump, the Iran war, tariffs and gas prices. Flanagan also attacked Tafoya over Operation Metro Surge, which not only energized the Democratic base but was unpopular with independents and swing voters.

Bill Quenroe, a 61-year-old who voted Tuesday in south Minneapolis, said his wife is from Peru and Operation Metro Surge weighed heavily on his mind when voting for Flanagan.“I’ve got a nine-year-old daughter that was crying when ICE was here thinking Mama was going to get picked up even though my wife’s a U.S. citizen for 20 years,” said Quenroe, who described himself as a political independent.

Flanagan also sought to puncture Tafoya’s image as a more moderate Republican, arguing Tafoya was not a true supporter of abortion rights or an independent voice in politics.

In her closing pitch to voters in the one debate of the Senate race, Flanagan said she wants to help people “afford the lives they want to live.”

“Michele Tafoya would be a vote for Donald Trump,” she said. “I would be a vote for Minnesota.”

While national Republicans said they felt Tafoya had a chance, groups like the Senate Leadership Fund aligned with Majority Leader John Thune never backed up that rhetoric with significant campaign cash.

That may speak to the GOP’s true feelings about their chances of winning Minnesota. It also might have illustrated how Republicans were simply playing defense across the country, forced to spend heavily in Texas, Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio, Alaska and South Carolina.

In the closing days of the campaign, Flanagan campaigned with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. It could be a preview of how she will vote in the Senate. Flanagan has rejected the democratic socialist label but has promised an unabashed progressive agenda.

“I’ll tell you why this fight matters so much,” Flanagan said from a rally with Sanders in Duluth. “Right now, all across the state, I’m meeting folks who are doing everything right and still falling behind.”

In response to accusations that Flanagan did not do enough to address fraud, she said during the campaign that Walz was in charge of the state’s response and that she did not oversee state agencies as issues grew. She argued she was leading on policy issues such as the state’s free school meals program.

Tafoya’s loss is a blow to her nascent political career. The celebrity broadcaster had for many years brushed off Republicans who wanted her to run for office. She held a rare job at the top of her industry as a sideline reporter for Sunday Night Football, but she stepped away in 2022 to be more vocal for conservative causes.

Tafoya launched a podcast and a Substack publication, honing her voice as a commentator and building goodwill with conservatives. Eventually she made the leap into the U.S. Senate race in an effort to stop what she said was a state in decline.

Flanagan grew up in St. Louis Park and said her political philosophy was shaped by her family’s reliance on government programs such as Medicaid and Section 8 housing. She was part of Sen. Paul Wellstone’s 2002 re-election campaign and had formative experiences organizing with two progressive nonprofits related to the late senator.

After serving on the Minneapolis school board and as executive director of the Children’s Defense Fund Minnesota, she won a seat in the Minnesota House in 2015. She joined Walz’s ticket in 2018 and has served nearly eight years as the governor’s second in command.

Sign up to get the Hot Dish newsletter delivered to your inbox twice a week for the inside scoop on Minnesota politics.

Allison Kite and Jana Hollingsworth of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this report.

Most of the U.S. stock market is rallying Wednesday as Wall Street tries to sort the winners from the losers following stunning losses for President Donald Trump's party in the midterm elections.

Democrats gained control of the Minnesota House and Senate, setting up full control of state government. Nationwide, Democrats racked up wins, taking over leadership of the House and Senate as voters issued a rebuke to President Trump.

Full results aren’t yet available, but Democrats have already defeated Republicans to flip several key seats and secure a state government trifecta.

Most of the U.S. stock market is rallying Wednesday as Wall Street tries to sort the winners from the losers following stunning losses for President Donald Trump's party in the midterm elections.