Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan wins crowded race for Democratic Senate nomination

Minnesota on Tuesday narrowed down its two Senate candidates, who will face off in the November midterm elections to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Tina Smith.

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan won the Democratic primary against six other candidates with 59.0% of the vote, with 98% of precincts reporting.

Flanagan will face Michele Tafoya, a former television sports broadcaster who won the Republican nomination in a crowded field of nine candidates, with 52% of the vote after 99% of ballots were counted.

Flanagan's next-closest challenger in the Democratic primary, Angie Craig, secured 39.4% of the vote. But both candidates for the Democratic nomination faced scrutiny during the campaign for differing reasons.

Flanagan received an endorsement from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is one of the leaders of the progressive movement within the Democratic Party.

With New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, endorsing Democratic candidates across the US with a similar political ideology to Sanders, the shift in the Democratic Party's overall ideology has been scrutinized by the more traditional establishment members of the party.

Craig, on the other hand, received $710,000 in donations from the group Americans Strengthening the US-Israel Partnership (AIPAC), according to the website trackaipac.com, which lists donations given to political candidates by AIPAC.

Leading up to Tuesday's election, political experts said Craig's history of support from AIPAC could hurt her chances of winning the primary because of the shift in the Democratic Party's support for Israel. Continued airstrikes by the Israeli military have resulted in the deaths of 73,474 people since the beginning of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the website gazacasualties.org.

Democrats are continuing to grapple with the party's support for Israel, with many rejecting campaign money from pro-Israel groups like AIPAC. While Craig received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from AIPAC, Flanagan vowed not to take any money from the pro-Israel group during her campaign.

Tafoya will now try to defeat Flanagan to flip Minnesota's Democratic Senate seat, which has not seen a Republican elected to that office since 2002.