The Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor (DFL) party has a tradition they go through every four to eight years:
- At their state convention, the activists - people who are "early adopters" for every insane signpost as the Democrats slide ever further to the left, people who were snuggling up to the DSA six years ago - endorse a raft of candidates that reflect their extreme-left values. Example: in 2018, they endorsed two women who publicly fantasized about bulldozing crisis pregnancy centers, and an Attorney General candidate who might have had to move to the center to be in the DSA.
- The DFL's party leadership looks at the convention endorsements, does a very wet spit-take, and bellows "you endorsed WHAT?"
- The DFL's management then brings in the party's inner circle - the people with the clout and money, the public employee unions and big non-profit/pseudo-parties and the plutocrats who pay so much of the party's freight - and figure out how to jam down the people who are really going to be on the ballot.
And so to go back to the example in #1, they ran Keith Ellison, who was, believe it or not, more moderate than the endorsed candidate, for Attorney General. And most relevant to today's post, they grabbed Tim Walz, then an obscure Congressman who'd been LARPing as a "moderate" to keep getting elected in his rural southern Minnesota district. To make the idea of a "moderate" more palatable to the party faithful, they paired him with Peggy Flanagan, a State House legislator from ĂĽber-progressive south Minneapolis who had the most left-of-center voting record in the legislature, at least by 2018 standards. They won the 2018 election, and - gratingly - reelection in 2022.
Now, as in most states, the Lieutenant Governor doesn't really do a lot. Even people who follow politics obsessively have a hard time remembering more than a few, no matter what state you're in.
But during the first six years of Walz's reign, the messaging from the administration might have had someone just arrived from another planet thinking the state was run by someone named WALZFLANAGAN. The Lieutenant Governor was lurking in the background of pretty much every single photo of Tim Walz, whether signing a bill, delivering a speech, or eating a Pronto Pup at the State Fair.
You'd think after not only eight years as the most prominent #2 in state history, Flanagan would be an obvious choice to get Walz's support in the race to succeed retiring Senator Tina Smith. And in a normal race in a normal party behind a normal administration, you might have a point.
But after eight years marked by the squandering of a $19 billion surplus, one of the worst combinations of COVID lockdowns and results in the country, a crime wave that just won't die (Minneapolis is among few major cities where violent crime isn't plummeting), skyrocketing budgets and taxes, two terms of complete DFL control of government marked by "hooker-with-a-stolen-Gold Card"-level spending and embarrassing Vice Presidential run, and a fraud scandal that may be one of the worst in the country in terms of dollars per capita, Walz's popularity has plummeted down to somewhere between a tax audit and a colonoscopy without sedation - so low he abandoned his plan to run for a third term; low enough, indeed, that the infamously obsequious local media stopped covering for him.
Flanagan, with her progressive credentials (which have slipped a little toward the center since she was in the Legislature, whose Metro DFL delegation has been taken over by the DSA), easily won the endorsement at the state convention in late May. The only serious opponent, 2nd District Congresswoman Angie Craig, had taken an obscure vote to fund ICE just in time for Minnesota Democrats to get swept up in last winter's astroturf protests, so her polling among convention-going activists was around 20 percent. Craig opted to go to the primary - which actually determines ballot placement - in the belief that she, with risible-but-plausible "moderate" credentials from her four terms in suburban/exurban/rural district.
And then the polling among regular Minnesotans started coming in. While Flanagan held a lead among likely DFL primary voters, polling showed that she was vulnerable to a Republican challenger - especially former NFL sideline reporter-turned-candidate Michelle Tafoya.
And so the DFL's machinery is now springing into place to enact the tradition we noted at the beginning of this post - to try to find a way to reverse the will of the party's convention-going activists and primary voters (as measured up to a few weeks back) and jam down Angie Craig as the candidate on the ballot this fall.
Is it working? Well, Flanagan was leading in the primary polling a few weeks ago; more recent polling shows things have tightened up:
Now, three weeks before the primary, normally the endorsement of the sitting Governor would carry some weight at this point in the race. But as noted above, Walz's popularity in Minnesota is about the same as President Trump's nationwide, with over 50 percent negatives.
So perhaps a less divisive figure?
Gwen Walz, wife of the governor, endorsed Craig last week:
🚨Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz is endorsing Rep. Angie Craig for #MNSen, saying Craig's record of winning tough races "speaks for itself."
— Press Clips (@PressClips) July 27, 2026
Walz joins 150+ state & local leaders backing Craig. Tim Walz hasn't endorsed in the primary, which includes his Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. pic.twitter.com/VENKVb3i1G
Why yes - that's the same Gwen Walz, wife of the Governor, who spent her time during the 2020 riots rooting for the people doing the burning:
🚨 BREAKING: Gwen “Burning Tires” Walz has ENDORSED Angie Craig for U.S. Senate in Minnesota. pic.twitter.com/Ahd3LWf5FM
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) July 27, 2026
One might think that'd put her in Flanagan's DSA-adjacent camp?
Maybe. But Senator Amy Klobuchar, whom polling shows with a lead to win the Governor's race, is going to be the one appointing her replacement in the Senate if she wins. If there's anyone who wants to get out of Minnesota and move to DC more than Tim Walz, it's Mrs. Walz.
No matter. DFLers have short memories. If it weren't for conservative media, nobody would remember any of these shenanigans from cycle to cycle.
