Peggy Flanagan holds off Michelle Tafoya in Minnesota Senate race to succeed Amy Klobuchar

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan beat former sports broadcaster Michelle Tafoya on Tuesday in the race to succeed Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) in the Senate.The Associated Press called the race for Flanagan just after midnight, with Flanagan earning 54.36% with 70.6% of ballots counted.Former Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), won the state in the 2024 general election with a more than 4-point advantage over President Donald Trump. Flanagan led Tafoya in every poll up until Election Day, but never by more than 5 points. That lead had shrunk to just 3 in surveys published in mid-October when the Cook Political Report moved the race in the GOP’s favor. Prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket both still gave Flanagan a nearly 90% chance of winning at the end of October. Tafoya, a political rookie, was endorsed by Trump in mid-October but kept the president at arm’s length.“There is one endorsement that I care about, and that is the one that happens on Nov. 3. Truly, this is about Minnesota,” she said in October. “I am happy to say I will stand up to my party when I believe in something.”The race took place against the backdrop of the Trump administration making Minnesota a hot spot in its war against fraud.TRACKING TRUMP’S 2026 MIDTERM CAMPAIGN PLEDGESConservative activist Nick Shirley documented widespread allegations of fraudulent businesses last year, prompting the White House to establish an anti-fraud task force, helmed by Vice President JD Vance. Anti-fraud messaging became a central pillar of the GOP’s 2026 campaign messaging strategy. Republican-led allegations against the state’s Democratic leaders eventually forced Walz to end his reelection bid.Minneapolis was also the epicenter of anti-ICE protests in opposition to Trump’s deportation agenda. Federal immigration officials shot three people in the city early in the year, killing both Renee Good and Alex Pretti. The incidents led to significant changes to both the president’s immigration enforcement policies and Department of Homeland Security leadership.