Flanagan vs. Tafoya: Ilhan Omar Raid Was Nail in Coffin for GOP’s Minnesota Hopes

Newsweek · Anna Skinner · 2026-11-04 23:36 UTC

The race was considered the GOP’s best chance in years at flipping the Senate seat, but Democrat Peggy Flanagan won by 10 points.

President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Republican Michele Tafoya and the federal raid on Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar’s home contributed to Tafoya’s loss against Democrat Peggy Flanagan for a Minnesota U.S. Senate seat, a political science professor told Newsweek.

Flanagan, Minnesota's lieutenant governor under Governor Tim Walz, won the race in Tuesday's midterm elections with 53.7 percent of the vote to Tafoya’s 43.6 percent. Flanagan’s victory came as Democrats flipped many U.S. Senate, House and multiple gubernatorial seats, including in traditionally Republican states such as Texas and Ohio. She is the first Native American woman elected to the U.S. Senate.

While Minnesota has been thought of as a safe spot for Democrats, having last elected a Republican to the Senate in 2002, the GOP had its best chance in 20 years at flipping the seat, Hamline University professor of political science and legal studies David Schultz previously told Newsweek, citing voter concerns with corruption as one of the reasons.

Read the full story at Newsweek · All coverage of this story