Meet Peggy Flanagan, candidate for U.S. Senate in Minnesota | WCCO Election Guide
Peggy Flanagan, the DFL nominee for U.S. Senate, has been Minnesota's lieutenant governor since 2019. She is running for the open seat vacated by retiring Sen. Tina Smith.
Watch her 60-second video pitch and read below how she'd tackle Minnesota's top issues, from health care and immigration to the economy and the national debt.
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The federal government is running significant annual deficits. What specific federal spending would you cut or protect, and what tax changes, if any, would you support to address the national debt?
The National Debt just surpassed $40 trillion dollars outpacing defense spending for the first time in history. The budgeting choices we make to get our deficit under control reflect values. President Trump has made clear that he values billionaires, ballrooms, and bombs over working Minnesotans. Those are not my values. As a first step, I would end the tax cuts to billionaires and the $70 billion in tax incentives for AI and data centers in Trump's Tax Bill. I'll fight to end Trump's war in Iran that's costing taxpayers $4 billion a month while their gas prices skyrocket. I'lll also vote to claw back the hundreds of millions in additional funding for ICE. I'm running to help people afford the lives they want to live. The Federal Budget should focus on delivering programs that cut costs like paid family leave and Medicare for All, that's what I'll fight for.
What changes would you support to federal health care policy, including the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid?
Minnesotans shouldn't lie awake at night worrying about how they are going to afford their prescriptions or next trip to the doctor. That's why I'll fight to pass Medicare for All. It will be a long haul but I've taken on challenges like this before and won, like leading the effort to pass paid family and medical leave. In the meantime, I'll work to lower the cost of prescription drugs by giving Medicare the power to negotiate the prices on all medications, not a select few. I'll fight to end insurance company abuses like prior authorization - so your doctor determines what care you receive and not your insurance company. I'll fight to restore cuts to Medicaid and expand the program to include hearing, vision and dental. And I'll work to reinstate the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits that help keep costs down for Minnesotans.
What immigration policies would you support at the federal level, including border security measures and any pathway to legal status for people currently in the country without authorization?
Our immigration system is broken and Donald Trump's cruel mass deportation agenda isn't fixing it. We saw what that looks like firsthand during Operation Metro Surge: families torn apart, legal residents and American citizens detained, communities terrorized, children taken, and two Minnesotans killed. We deserve better. We can have a secure border and effective immigration enforcement without sacrificing due process or human dignity. We should modernize our immigration system, invest in border technology and staffing, reduce backlogs, and create a pathway to legal status and citizenship for people who have built their lives, families, and businesses here. We must honor our commitment to refugees and asylum seekers fleeing violence and persecution through a fair and lawful process. Immigration has always been part of Minnesota's story - immigrants make our communities stronger. We need a system that is humane and rooted in public safety, dignity, due process, and the rule of law.
What would you do in Congress to support jobs and economic growth in Minnesota, including your position on tariffs and international trade agreements?
Tariffs and trade deals need to prioritize Minnesota workers, businesses and farmers, not the whims of Donald Trump. Congress must reclaim its power to set America on a path to increase wages for workers, lower interest rates, and foster growth. I'll work with local businesses, including family farms to level the playing field by fighting for investments in small-business loans, federal paid family and medical leave, universal childcare, lower health-care costs, farmers' right to repair, and to raise the federal minimum wage while helping employers compete and retain workers. I'll work to restore federal investments in traditional and green infrastructure and to create more private-public partnerships. We need better economic growth and we need the benefits of that growth to reach all Minnesotans, not just those who are already doing well.
Minnesota has been at the center of some of the largest public-program fraud cases in the country in recent years. What would you do in Congress to strengthen oversight and prevent this kind of fraud in the future?
Fraud of any kind is unacceptable. I believe those who commit fraud should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. While steps have been taken to tackle fraud in Minnesota, there are actions that must be taken at the federal level to root out and prevent future corruption. In the Senate, I would restore the 17 federal independent inspectors generals and ethics watchdogs that President Trump dismissed whose whole role was to uncover fraud and corruption. We must rebuild the agencies DOGE has hollowed out to ensure they have the staff and tools to protect taxpayer dollars. I will vote to prevent all three branches of government from trading stocks and strengthen strong conflict-of-interest and financial-disclosure rules, including for any president and members of their family. And we must establish enforceable ethics rules for the Supreme Court. Public office should be about serving people - not getting rich.