As The Flag Flaps

The old flag had a complicated history - much of it centered around once figure on the stylized state seal that was in the middle:

There was a small change in 1983; not so much in how the flag looked, but how the image in the seal was interpreted, specifically the Native American riding on horseback.

"The symbology of a native person riding to the west symbolized the removal of native people," said Convery. "The legislature in 1983 voted to not change the orientation of the native on horseback but to change the wording and basically legislate that the native person was riding to the south."

Changing the old flag was technically a bipartisan issue from the mid-2000s until 2022.  I say technically because nobody really cared about it that much, because it's a state flag.  

But in 2023, when the DFL took control of the state legislature launched a commission to redesign the flag and the state seal - a long, arduous process that led to the selection of a final contender...

...that was then redesigned by committee to result in the current official flag.  

And suddenly, people cared deeply and passionately about a state flag.  

There've been three major lines of objections to the new flag. 

First: It t was designed by committee and looks like it.  I actually think it looks like someone put some of Minnesota's historical and geographic highlights (the Star of the North, the state's shape, and all those lakes) into ChatGPT and told it to make it bland.  

Second:  it exudes "woke".   And I have to say, little as I care about state flags, and as bland as the new design is, the DFL may want to have found a less abrasive ambassador for the new one than the designer of the final selection (which, perversely, only broadly resembles the flag that was adopted):

Man who designed Minnesota’s new state flag says the old flag was “colonialist” and had “very racist imagery.”

The designer blamed the “far-right” for trying to “invalidate the progressiveness” after people accused it of resembling Somali state flags.

pic.twitter.com/HLLK1chG1i

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) January 6, 2026

And finally - some say there's a resemblance to the flag of the home nation of an immigrant population that's helped drive put Minnesota in the news for something other than its tradition of major league sports futility:

Bottom left: Minnesota’s old flag
Top right: Minnesota’s new flag
Bottom right: Somalia’s flag pic.twitter.com/JWPxCCfhOw

— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) December 30, 2025

I don't see that personally - the eight-pointed star, "L'Etoile du Nord" has been a state symbol since founding; it's even rendered in tile on floor of the state capitol rotunda.  

But between those three rounds of objections, the state's flag suddenly did the unthinkable; it got people to care about the state flag. Opposition started bright and early - people might not have cared about the old flag, but many definitely did not like the new one. 

The DFL, of course, pushed back in the way DFLers do - with "shaming"...

If you’re demanding to fly the old Minnesota flag it’s because you value meaningless nostalgia over racism.

It’s undeniable that the old flag had undertones of white supremacy and advocated for displacing indigenous peoples. If you don’t care it’s because you’re naive or racist. https://t.co/HH7bKyGHBo

— Mike Norton (@NortonMpls) March 13, 2026

...and dramatics:

Minnesota leftists "recreating" Iwo Jima with their Somali-lookin' state flag? 😂

Real Marines raised Old Glory on a blood-soaked volcano after hellish combat.

These clowns? Shivering theater kids LARPing in the snow, swapping heroism for virtue-signaling cosplay. Peak cringe pic.twitter.com/STzMuNXcHV

— Myrna 𝕏 (@GigaBeers) February 2, 2026

Gradually, cities, towns and counties around Minnesota started protesting by voting to switch back to the old flag:

Here are the cities that have restored the original Minnesota State Flag.

Babbitt
Champlin
Columbus
Crosslake
Crow Wing County
Detroit Lakes
Elk River
Ham Lake
North Branch
Nowthen
Pine Island
Plainview
St. Francis
Wadena
Zumbrota

Tell your local city council to do the same. pic.twitter.com/AiH2w80gRA

— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) April 28, 2026

Most of those towns are in "Greater Minnesota", outside the hard-blue Twin Cities metro area - although the protest is now encroaching into the suburbs - the Saint Paul suburb of Inver Grove Heights is mulling a switch back. 

Community members packed the Inver Grove Heights City Council meeting Monday as the council approved a resolution to fly the old state flag at city buildings. https://t.co/XyNLMJOS87

— FOX 9 (@FOX9) April 28, 2026

And for the DFL in the legislature, that's apparently a bridge too far.  The Legislative DFL has introduced a bill that would deny state funding to jurisdictions that reject the new flag:

🚨Breaking:

MN Democrats just proposed a bill to reduce funding for cities and counties flying the true Minnesota flag. https://t.co/4wEFnJXT4f pic.twitter.com/ZGKmQik1fh

— Michael Holmstrom (@MichaelH_MN) April 27, 2026

A new bill in the Minnesota House seeks to financially penalize cities that fly the old state flag...The bill text states the commissioner of revenue would reduce the aid to a county or city by 10% over the "use of the incorrect state flag."  

Which strikes me as crazier and more pointless than the redesign effort itself.   Midterms are coming, and Greater Minnesota is starting to chafe at the metro-based DFL's arbitrary, corruption-ridden and preeningly arrogant control of the state.  Will extorting communiites to fly the new flag work?

Some DFL politicians say "no":

I'm a no https://t.co/WwnfYP3jXu

— Senator Heather Gustafson (@SenGustafson) April 28, 2026

This is nonsense. I’m begging legislators to get serious about the issues that actually matter to Minnesota. From rising costs and tackling fraud head on to addressing fed harm to hospitals and passing an infrastructure jobs bill that puts people to work. This isn’t that hard https://t.co/F04SRzR27I

— Grant Hauschild (@grant_hauschild) April 28, 2026

But if the metro-dominated DFL maintains its usual tone-deafness on this as every other subject?

Who knows - they could just design themselves into the GOP winning its first statewide race in 20 years.