Kolby KickingWoman
ICT
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is seeking a higher office.
After Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith announced that she will not be running for reelection in 2026, Flanagan shared on social media that she intends to throw her proverbial hat in the ring for the U.S. Senate seat.
“I love Minnesota and my intention is to run for U.S. Senate and continue to serve the people of this state. I’ll make a formal announcement later this month. In the meantime, I’m talking with community and family and friends. I will have more to say soon,” Flanagan, White Earth Nation, posted on X and Instagram.
She currently serves as the lieutenant governor of Minnesota alongside Gov. Tim Walz, who had an unsuccessful bid as the Democratic vice president nominee with Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: ICT special interview with Peggy Flanagan
Flanagan, Walz, current Democrat House Rep. Ilhan Omar, and others could make for a competitive and crowded field for the seat, according to a report from Politico.
Currently, Lt. Gov. Flanagan is the highest-ranking Native woman elected to executive office in the United States. She has championed a number of issues since first being elected with Walz in 2018, from affordable housing to protecting women’s reproductive rights to helping establish the Minnesota Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office, the first of its kind in the nation.
Indian Country immediately responded with excitement, including Native pundit Holly Cook Macarro, Red Lake Obijwe.
“Let’s make history by electing the first Native American woman to the U.S. Senate!” she wrote on Facebook.
Minnesota is home to 11 federally recognized tribes.
If successful, Flanagan would join Republican Markwayne Mullin, Cherokee, in the upper chamber of the United States Congress. Additionally, along with Mullin, she would bring the total number of Native members in Congress to five.
The other three congressional members are Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids, Ho‑Chunk, Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, Chickasaw Nation and Oklahoma Rep. Josh Brecheen, Choctaw.
Republicans currently hold a majority in the Senate, 53 to 47, and Democrats will certainly hope to hold Minnesota when the midterm elections roll around in November 2026.
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