Peggy Flanagan | |
|---|---|
| Gizhiiwewidamookwe[a] | |
.jpg) Flanagan in 2024 | |
| 50thLieutenant Governor of Minnesota | |
| Assumed office January 7, 2019 | |
| Governor | Tim Walz |
| Preceded by | Michelle Fischbach |
| Member of theMinnesota House of Representatives from the 46A district | |
| In office November 9, 2015 – January 7, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Ryan Winkler |
| Succeeded by | Ryan Winkler |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1979-09-22)September 22, 1979 (age 46) |
| Nationality | American White Earth Nation |
| Political party | Democratic (DFL) |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | 1 |
| Education | University of Minnesota (BA) |
Margaret Flanagan[1] (Ojibwe:Gizhiiwewidamookwe;[a][2][3] born September 22, 1979) is an American politician andNative American activist serving as the 50thlieutenant governor of Minnesota since 2019. A member of theMinnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Flanagan served in theMinnesota House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019.
Flanagan grew up inSt. Louis Park, Minnesota, an inner-ring suburb ofMinneapolis. She is a citizen of theWhite Earth Nation. She got her start as a community organizer organizing the urban indigenous community, including for U.S. SenatorPaul Wellstone's2002 reelection campaign. Flanagan was elected to and served on theMinneapolis Public Schools Board from 2005 to 2009. In 2015, she was elected to the Minnesota House, representing a section of Minneapolis's western inner-ring suburbs.
Flanagan was elected lieutenant governor in2018 and reelected in2022, both times asTim Walz's running mate, becoming the first woman of color elected to statewide office in Minnesota, and at the time of her election, the highest-ranking Native American woman to hold elected office in the country.[4] On February 13, 2025, Flanagan announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat to whichTina Smith has declined to run for reelection in2026.[5]
Flanagan was born on September 22, 1979, inSt. Louis Park, Minnesota,[6] where she was raised by her mother, Patricia Elizabeth Flanagan, a lifelong DFL activist who worked forHubert Humphrey.[7] Her father was Marvin Manypenny, an American Indian land rights andsovereignty activist.[8] She is ofIrish andOjibwe descent[9] and is a citizen of theWhite Earth Nation.[10] Flanagan is a graduate ofSt. Louis Park High School[11] and received a bachelor's degree inchild psychology andAmerican Indian studies from theUniversity of Minnesota in 2002.[12][13]
While in college, Flanagan worked on U.S. SenatorPaul Wellstone's campaign, eventually becoming an organizer for the urban Native American community.[14] After college, she worked for the Minnesota Council of Churches, performing outreach work between Native American families and the Minneapolis public school system.[14]
In her first run for elective office, Flanagan won a seat on the board ofMinneapolis Public Schools in 2004.[15] In a six-candidate field that featured two incumbents, the political newcomer Flanagan garnered the most votes.[16] She was elected along with Lydia Lee and incumbent Sharon Henry-Blythe and served one term on the board, from 2005 to 2009.[10] In 2008, she challenged incumbent Minnesota RepresentativeJoe Mullery in the Democratic primary, but dropped out of the race due to her mother's health problems.[14] After working a handful of other jobs, Flanagan joinedWellstone Action as a trainer of activists, organizers, and candidates.[14] She was then appointed to briefly serve on the school board again from 2010 until 2011.[17] As executive director ofChildren's Defense Fund-Minnesota, she also advocated for the successful 2014 effort to raise Minnesota's minimum wage.[14]
Flanagan was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives unopposed in a special election on November 3, 2015, and sworn in on November 9.[14] Susan Allen (Rosebud) and Republican Steve Green (White Earth Ojibwe) were the only other Natives in the Minnesota State House at that time.
Three other Native women sought election to theMinnesota legislature in November 2016:Mary Kelly Kunesh-Podein (Standing Rock Lakota) andJamie Becker-Finn (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe) ran for state representative seats and Chilah Brown (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe) ran for the Minnesota Senate. Kunesh-Podein and Becker-Finn were elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives and took office in January 2017.
In 2017, Flanagan, Allen, Kunesh-Podein and Beck-Finn formed the Minnesota House Native American Caucus to represent issues of both urban and rural Native Americans and their other constituents.[18]
Flanagan was invited to address the2016 Democratic National Convention on July 28, 2016. She was the second Native American woman to address the DNC, afterDenise Juneau in 2012.[19][18]
In 2017, Flanagan became a candidate forlieutenant governor, joining U.S. RepresentativeTim Walz, who won the DFL primary in the2018 Minnesota gubernatorial election.[20] In the general election, Walz and Flanagan defeated theRepublican nominees,Jeff Johnson and Donna Bergstrom. Walz and Flanagan were reelected in2022.[21][22]
Flanagan was one of four chairs of the2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.[23]
Flanagan has been described as aprogressive Democrat.[24][25]
Flanagan is an advocate for Indigenous peoples' rights. While a legislator, she sponsored the creation of a task force onMissing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Later, she sponsored a mandate for tribal consultation in state affairs[26] and as lieutenant governor created the nation's first Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office.[27]
While a legislator, she authored several bills for employer-provided childcare and state-sponsored childcare assistance.[28]
Flanagan supports transgender rights and providing gender-affirming care to transgender youth. She supported Walz's executive order protecting access togender-affirming care for adults and youth.[29]
Flanagan has a daughter with her former husband, Tim Hellendrung.[30] The marriage ended in 2017. She resides inSt. Louis Park, Minnesota.[31] Flanagan is Catholic and attends St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church inMaple Grove.[32]
On January 12, 2018, Flanagan announced on her personal Facebook page that she was in a relationship with theMinnesota Public Radio News host Tom Weber; MPR News announced that day that it was reassigning Weber to no longer cover "the governor's race, the Legislature, potential legislation, public policy involving the executive or legislative branches or any topic related to the November 2018 election."[33] Flanagan married Weber in September 2019.[34]
Flanagan's brother, Ron Golden, died ofCOVID-19 on March 21, 2020.[35] His death was the second one caused by theCOVID-19 pandemic in Tennessee.[36]
In February 2020, theNational Congress of American Indians gave Flanagan the Native American Leadership Award for her work raising awareness of Native issues and improving lives of Indigenous people.[37]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (DFL) | Tim Walz/Peggy Flanagan (incumbent) | 1,312,311 | 52.27% | −1.57% | |
| Republican | Scott Jensen/Matt Birk | 1,119,911 | 44.61% | +2.18% | |
| Legal Marijuana Now | James McCaskel/David Sandbeck | 29,435 | 1.17% | N/A | |
| Grassroots—LC | Steve Patterson/Matt Huff | 22,604 | 0.90% | −1.75% | |
| Independence | Hugh McTavish/Mike Winter | 18,156 | 0.72% | N/A | |
| Socialist Workers | Gabrielle Prosser/Kevin Dwire | 7,240 | 0.29% | N/A | |
| Write-in | 1,026 | 0.04% | 0.00% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (DFL) | Tim Walz/Peggy Flanagan | 1,393,008 | 53.84% | +3.77% | |
| Republican | Jeff Johnson/Donna Bergstrom | 1,097,682 | 42.43% | −2.08% | |
| Grassroots | Chris Wright/Judith Schwartzbacker | 68,664 | 2.65% | n/a | |
| Libertarian | Josh Welter/Mary O'Connor | 26,736 | 1.03% | n/a | |
| Write-In | 26,736 | 1.03% | n/a | ||
| Majority | 295,326 | 11.41% | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (DFL) | Peggy Flanagan | 15,187 | 63.85% | |
| Republican | Anne Taylor | 8,525 | 35.84% | |
| Write-In | 72 | 0.30% | ||
| Majority | 6,662 | 28.01% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (DFL) | Peggy Flanagan | 3,137 | 96.40% | |
| Write-In | 117 | 3.60% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-partisan | Peggy Flanagan | 71,907 | 23.72% | |
| Non-partisan | Lydia Lee | 68,694 | 22.66% | |
| Non-partisan | Sharon Henry-Blythe (i) | 44,759 | 14.76% | |
| Non-partisan | Dennis Shapiro (i) | 42,739 | 14.10% | |
| Non-partisan | Sandra Miller | 42,638 | 14.06% | |
| Non-partisan | David Dayhoff | 30,367 | 10.02% | |
| Write-in | 2,094 | 0.69% | ||
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)My name in the Ojibwe language is Gizhiiwewidamookwe.
| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forLieutenant Governor of Minnesota 2018,2022 | Most recent |
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| Preceded by | Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota 2019–present | Incumbent |
Statewide elected officials and legislative leaders ofMinnesota | ||
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| U.S. senators |  | |
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