GRAND RAPIDS — Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan chatted with Grand Rapids area residents for an hour Friday, Nov. 7, as part of her campaign for U.S. Senate.
About 35 people, largely members of Itasca Area Indivisible or the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, gathered in Brewed Awakenings for a chance to talk with Flanagan for just a few minutes.
Paula, a speech pathologist at a local school who declined to share her last name, told Flanagan about the cost of health insurance.
“Our teachers are paying $1,000 out of their paycheck with a $6,000 deductible. We can’t afford that anymore,” she said. “ ... We need help with health insurance.”
Flanagan told Paula she wished her story was unique, but this is the topic she hears the most about.
“That is why, as I've been traveling across the state and hearing stories very similar to yours, that I am so clear that we have to get to a place where we have universal health care for everybody,” she said.
Flanagan also talked about the price of prescription drugs, eliminating prior authorization — needing approval from insurance companies before offering a medical treatment — and corporations that are “buying our elections.” She said that’s why she doesn’t take corporate political action committee donations.
“I think that that matters right now, especially when people feel like everything is rigged,” she told Paula.
At every table in the coffee shop, Flanagan said she heard about affordability, an issue that helped fuel Democratic victories in Tuesday’s election. Flanagan said she plans to lean into that issue with her campaign.
“Regardless of what sort of part of the party that you come from, that was the throughline [in Tuesday’s election],” she said. “And folks are done with the chaos and just complete unpredictability of the Trump administration. They want some stability in their lives. They want to be able to keep food on the table. They want access to affordable health care.”
The lieutenant governor won’t just have to convince conservatives of her message in the lead-up to the 2026 election. Moderate Democratic Congresswoman Angie Craig, who represents the 2nd Congressional District in southeastern Minnesota, is also running for the Senate seat vacated by former Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, who is retiring.
After Grand Rapids, Flanagan was heading up the Iron Range for more conversation, a mine visit and a food shelf tour.
The Range has been trending right for decades. But the DFL is under new leadership, with a party head from St. Joseph, and candidates like Flanagan beginning to acknowledge the disconnect between rural units and the party’s urban core.
“Stay in touch with Itasca DFL,” one member told Flanagan on Friday. “Sometimes we feel ... ”
“A little neglected?” Flanagan finished. “I have received that feedback, and I got it.”
How does she plan to make up ground in rural Northern Minnesota?
“We have to just keep showing up — in coffee shops, in VFWs, in small businesses, just meeting people where they’re at, not expecting folks to always come to us,” she said. “And that’s how I think we rebuild trust with people and how we win elections."
-
Kari Hedlund/KAXEThe KAXE Music Team makes difficult decisions while they narrow down their top songs and albums of 2025 in this year-end Spin that Ish. -
Our No. 9 and No. 10 stories of year include an unusual strike over whether a wide range of Essentia Health providers can form a union and the controversial sale of an MN utility company. -
KAXE/Charlie MitchellIn this episode, co-hosts Heidi Holtan and Charlie Mitchell are delighted by Sam Guida, an expert in mysterious plant-insect interactions and former student phenologist. -
Staff and residents at Havenwood Care Center celebrate the holidays throughout December in Bemidji.
