Obama urges Minnesotans to vote for Peggy Flanagan in Senate race
Former President Barack Obama is backing Democratic Senate nominee Peggy Flanagan, urging Minnesotans to vote for her in a video message her campaign posted Monday.
"As an organizer, I learned that real change starts from the ground up," Obama says in the video. "Peggy Flanagan did too." He says she was an organizer on his first presidential campaign.
Obama credits Flanagan with leading the fight to raise Minnesota's minimum wage and pass paid family leave. He says she is running for Senate to fight for universal health care, take on corruption in Washington and give Minnesotans a voice there.
He says Minnesota "showed the world what's possible when communities stand up for what's right" this year, and he asks voters to do it again.
The video pairs Obama's remarks about communities with scenes from Operation Metro Surge and ICE raids. Operation Metro Surge is the Department of Homeland Security's immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities, which drew protests in Minneapolis. Republican Senate nominee Michele Tafoya initially supported the operation but is now critical of how it was carried out.
"Make a plan to vote for Peggy Flanagan by Nov. 3," Obama says. "This one matters."
The caption on the post frames the vote as a repeat: "We stood up to Donald Trump once. On November 3rd, let's do it again."
The video comes after President Trump endorsed Tafoya at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, this month. He called her "a very respected person." Tafoya, who previously called on him not to run for president again, had a lukewarm reaction, and Flanagan has sought to tie her to Mr. Trump. Tafoya has since kept her distance, saying the only endorsement she cares about is the one that happens Nov. 3.
Flanagan, the state's lieutenant governor, won the Democratic primary. She faces Tafoya, a former television sports reporter, in the race for the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Tina Smith. A Republican has not been elected to the U.S. Senate from Minnesota since Norm Coleman in 2002.
