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Minnesota Senate primary heats up
A competitive Democratic U.S. Senate primary in Minnesota on Tuesday is being shaped by the Trump administration’s deadly immigration crackdown and a fraud scandal that rocked the Democratic-run state government, as the race between Representative Angie Craig and Minnesota’s progressive lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan becomes a test of left-wing energy in the party.
“The contest, which has become one of the most expensive Senate primaries in state history”
The contest is framed as a fight between moderate and progressive Democrats, with Craig positioned as a moderate who represents a purple suburban district and Flanagan backed by progressive leaders including Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
The New York Times describes Craig, 54, as having “comfortably held on to her seat” by working across the aisle and wielding significant influence over agriculture policy, while it says Flanagan, 46, has staked out positions that appeal to the party’s liberal flank, including “cutting military aid to Israel” and establishing Medicare for all.
MPR News adds that the primaries are decisive moments for November ballot choices for governor, U.S. Senate and other downballot offices, with polls open at 7 a.m. and open until 8 p.m. or as long as voters are in line by the time polls are supposed to close.
Progressive vs establishment clash
ABC News describes progressive candidates for governor in Wisconsin and U.S. Senate in Minnesota making final pushes ahead of Tuesday’s election, increasing pressure on a Democratic establishment that has spent the year on its heels.
In Minnesota, ABC News says the Democratic Senate primary between Craig and Flanagan is playing out in the aftermath of “the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis,” and it notes that confrontations caught on camera “fueled a backlash to Trump’s immigration policies.”
The Hill reports that Sanders said the Minnesota Senate race will be “tight,” and he told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” that he hopes “Peggy wins.”
The Hill also quotes Sanders arguing that Flanagan is about “standing up to the big money interests,” while Craig has received endorsements from former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
What’s at stake for voters
AP News places the immigration crackdown at the center of the Minnesota primary’s stakes, describing how U.S. immigration agents staged at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building next to the Minneapolis airport while protesters gathered to oppose them.
“As U.S. immigration agents staged at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building”
AP News says two people were shot and killed in the city’s streets before Trump pulled back under pressure, and it adds that the decisions Craig made as a swing-seat congresswoman have become a liability as a statewide Senate candidate.
AP News also quotes Craig’s own framing of her campaign message, including her line to volunteers preparing to knock on doors in Brooklyn Park: “The working class keeps getting screwed,” and it reports she later said, “Folks, I don’t know about you, but it is time that we had a working folks reno— reso— renovation—” before continuing toward “—revolution in this country.”
In the same AP account, Craig’s immigration-related votes are described as fraught, including her support for the Laken Riley Act after Trump started his second term, and it notes that Craig published a mea culpa in a Minnesota Star Tribune column after Good and Pretti were killed.