Peggy Flanagan, Michele Tafoya Win Primaries

Minnesota's Senate race is set after Peggy Flanagan and Michele Tafoya won primaries.

•Center & Right

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Analysis & opinion

The reporting

A neutral summary of the key facts most outlets agree on, drawn from reporting across the political spectrum.

Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota’s lieutenant governor, won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, defeating Rep. Angie Craig with about 59% of the vote to Craig’s roughly 39%. The race is for the seat held by Sen. Tina Smith, who is not seeking reelection and endorsed Flanagan alongside Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Former television sports reporter Michele Tafoya won the Republican primary and will face Flanagan in November. The result advances a progressive Democrat over a better-funded centrist opponent in a statewide race.

Analysis & opinion

The arguments that emerged from this coverage — built only from the analysis and opinion pieces, never from straight reporting. Each dot is one article, placed by its outlet's bias — left to right. How to read our graphics →

angles sorted left-argued → right-argued

Progressive InsurgencyLeans Right

Peggy Flanagan’s primary win was a victory for the party’s progressive left over more establishment-aligned Democratic forces. Her campaign showed that grassroots organizing and left-wing energy could beat corporate-backed or establishment-favored Democratic politics.

Scandal BaggageLeans Right

Flanagan enters the general-election fight weakened by the fraud scandal that unfolded while she was in Minnesota’s executive branch. Her opponents can argue that the scandal makes her a compromised and politically vulnerable nominee.