Overview:
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan made a final campaign push ahead of Election Day at a DFL get-out-the-vote rally in St. Paul, joined by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Attorney General Keith Ellison and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Native Vote 2026
ST. PAUL, Minn. – With just two days remaining before Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 3, the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party held a get-out-the-vote rally Sunday afternoon at the Northern Midwest Regional Council of Carpenters in St. Paul.
Speaking to a crowd of approximately 200 people were Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who is running for the U.S. Senate; Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who is running for governor; and Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is seeking reelection. They were joined by former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Flanagan, a tribal citizen of the White Earth Nation, told the crowd that one of her first priorities in the Senate would be to reverse what she described as devastating cuts to SNAP and Medicaid.
“We will end the war in Iran, we will provide Medicare for all,” Flanagan said. “And we are also going to rip ICE apart,” she added, drawing the loudest applause of the day.
“Peggy is in it for all the right reasons,” Buttigieg said. “She did it the right way, getting elected to the school board first, then to higher offices.”
Klobuchar spoke about the influence of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.), who died in a plane crash in October 2002, on both her and Flanagan.
“Peggy learned from him to care for people. We remember his famous line: ‘We all do better when we all do better,’” Klobuchar said.
During a press gaggle, Flanagan told Native News Online that her campaign has worked to establish a get-out-the-vote program on all tribal reservations in Minnesota and in tribal communities throughout the state.
“The work we’ve done during the administration (Walz/Flanagan administration) to strengthen tribal-state relations is something that I hope to bring to Washington, D.C.,” Flanagan said.
If elected, Flanagan would become the first Native American woman elected to the U.S. Senate.
“I’m not running to make history, but frankly, it’s probably about time there’s a woman serving in the United States Senate, and she might as well be from the great state of Minnesota,” she said.
The latest polling in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race shows DFL nominee Peggy Flanagan leading Republican Michele Tafoya, 48% to 43%, in a Research Co. poll conducted Oct. 30-Nov. 1. The race has remained competitive, with recent polls generally showing Flanagan ahead by 3 to 7 percentage points. However, an Oct. 19-26 New York Times/Siena poll showed Flanagan with a 14-point lead, 54% to 40%.
