Peggy Flanagan

Peggy Flanagan (Ojibwe: Geji Waudamukwe; born September 22, 1979) is an American politician. She is the 50th Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota since 2019. She was elected lieutenant governor on November 6, 2018. She is the first woman of color elected to statewide office in Minnesota, and the highest-ranking Native American woman in elected office in the nation. She is running for the U.S. Senate in 2026.

She is a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL). Flanagan represented District 46A in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. Before being elected to political office, she worked at a political training camp and was an activist. She is politically a progressive.

Early life
Flanagan was born in Minnesota to activist Marvin Manypenny. Flanagan was raised by a single mother in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. She is of Irish and Ojibwe descent. She is a citizen of the White Earth Nation.

Flanagan received a bachelor's degree in child psychology and American Indian studies from the University of Minnesota in 2002.

Early political career
While in college, Flanagan worked on U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone's campaign, eventually becoming an organizer for the urban Native American community. After college, she worked for the Minnesota Council of Churches and the Minneapolis public school system.

In her first run for elective office, Flanagan won a seat on the board of Minneapolis Public Schools in 2004. In 2008, she ran against incumbent Minnesota Representative Joe Mullery in the Democratic primary, but dropped out of the race because of her mother's health problems. After working a handful of other jobs, Flanagan worked as a trainer at Wellstone Action, helping people who wanted to run for office in Minnesota. She was then appointed to briefly serve on the school board again from 2010 until 2011. 

Flanagan was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives without any competition in a special election on November 3, 2015, and sworn in on November 9.

 Lieutenant governor of Minnesota 
In 2017, Flanagan became a candidate for lieutenant governor, joining U.S. Representative Tim Walz, who won the DFL primary in the 2018 Minnesota gubernatorial election. In the general election, Walz and Flanagan defeated the Republican nominees, Jeff Johnson and Donna Bergstrom. Walz and Flanagan were reelected in 2022.

Flanagan supports transgender rights and providing gender-affirming care to transgender youth. She supported Walz's executive order protecting access to gender-affirming care for adults and youth.

Flanagan was one of four chairs of the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

2026 U.S. Senate campaign
On February 13, 2025, Flanagan announced her plans to run for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Tina Smith in 2026.

Personal life
Flanagan has a daughter with her first husband, Tim Hellendrung. The marriage ended in 2017. She lives in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.

In January 2018, Flanagan announced that she was in a relationship with radio host Tom Weber. Flanagan married Weber in September 2019.

Notes

References

Other websites

Government website
 Campaign website

Category:1979 births
Category:Living people
Category:Members of the Minnesota Legislature
Category:Lieutenant Governors of Minnesota
Category:Democratic Party (United States) politicians
Category:Native American people
Category:American political activists