With useless Sen. Tina Smith resigning, Minnesota’s open U.S. Senate seat for the 2026 election has created a massive opportunity and is garnering national attention. While Minnesota has tilted blue throughout the last few election cycles, this race may not necessarily be a slam dunk for Democrats. 

Radical leftist Peggy (Margaret) Flanagan is the incumbent Lieutenant Governor of our state who has become best known for wearing a shirt that seemingly threatens people with violence if they do not feed into woke gender delusions with support for mutilating children and blocking their puberty. While normal people agree that children cannot consent to permanent, irreversible changes to their bodies, radical Dems would rather deny reality and harm children. Despite holding a bachelor’s degree in child psychology (and American Indian studies, for whatever worth that is), Flanagan has led the charge to legalize castration for children under the guise of acceptance.

Before becoming Lt. Governor, Flanagan was previously a State Representative and school board member. Flanagan has always been a far-left politician with deep ties to the Democrat party, including work with woke, “social justice” groups like The Management Center, training political activists and candidates for Wellstone Action (where she met Walz in 2005), and being the previous Exec. Director of Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota. It would be safe to assume Flanagan has not gotten these positions because of talent, but rather because of identity politics and Flanagan’s connections.

Flanagan’s mother, Patricia Flanagan, is a previous staffer for Hubert Humphrey’s 1968 presidential campaign and Flanagan’s father, Marvin Manypenny, was an American Indian and land sovereignty activist. Interestingly, Manypenny was previously a target of Michelle Bachman for his refusal to pay income taxes on the basis of his ethnicity, which ultimately did not work out in his favor. Flanagan’s aunt was also a previous legislative candidate, highlighting the political nature of her upbringing. 

Walz selected Flanagan for Lt. Governor in 2017 while trying to balance identity politics (male/female, rural/urban, white/non-white) but their relationship has since begun falling apart. One sign of tension emerged during the failed and embarrassing campaign of Kamala/Walz for President & VP as they did very little to highlight and elevate Flanagan (with no co-appearances with Walz). Tension began to be reported as Flanagan allegedly started taking steps to assume the governorship, preparing a run herself in 2026, and using some of Walz’ gubernatorial campaign fund without authorization (which Walz has refused to comment on beyond claiming he doesn’t know about it). Walz has even hinted at a Senate run himself, highlighting that he and Flanagan are not on the same page, however indications seem to point to Walz running for a third Governor term. If he does so, whoever he selects as Lt. Governor would likely be seen as his true preferred successor. 

While personality, roles, and tactics may separate Walz and Flanagan, very little separates the two ideologically as they are both power hungry, big government tyrants. Flanagan has always been an opportunistic, radical left, career politician who is just trying to climb the ladder. She was previously the Chair of the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association and one of four chairs for the 2024 DNC Convention. These positions shows that Flanagan is well-connected and is on the rise for Democrats. Flanagan has even used her second marriage to consolidate power with the media; In 2019 she married Tom Weber, former news host with Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) and he was then forced to change coverage by MPR to prevent conflicts of interest. 

While appearing nuts on the surface, Flanagan is able to piece things together on a policy front behind the scenes. If she truly "trained" people like Walz, Ilhan, and other radical leftists then she would be more of a threat than expected. She may also have a mean streak as some allege that Flanagan told Paul Wellstone's children to "F### off" when they asked to see the books for the Wellstone Foundation, which she moved much further left than was originally envisioned.

Flanagan’s far left record will be on full display throughout the U.S. Senate campaign, however, her website currently lists ZERO policy positions! Like Kamala/Walz tried and failed at, voters can tell when you are hiding your real positions from them. Flanagan may crash and burn during this run since she has seemingly lost the support of Walz and could face primary challengers like Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Angie Craig (and even legislative tyrant Melissa Hortman). Vague identity politics can only take untalented politicians so far and we may be nearing the end of the line for Flanagan.

Action 4 Liberty will continue to track and report the U.S. Senate race and all of the surrounding developments to keep an informed Patriot populace. Below you will see the names of all candidates that have announced a run for this seat as we expect the list to continue to grow:

Democrats: 

Peggy Flanagan (Lt. Governor)

Republicans:

Royce White (Former NBA player & 2024 MNGOP Endorsed U.S. Senate candidate & nominee)

Adam Schwarze (Navy SEAL veteran & 2022 CD3 candidate)

Alycia Gruenhagen (2020 & 2022 CD7 Democrat candidate, 2024 GOP U.S. Senate candidate, & daughter of State Sen. Glenn Gruenhagen)

Raymond Petersen (Truck driver & 2024 GOP U.S. Senate candidate)

Mike Ruoho (Liz Cheney lover/Trump hater & pretend 2024 Presidential candidate)

Libertarians:

Rebecca Whiting (Farmer & 2024 Libertarian U.S. Senate nominee)