In Rochester, Minnesota, a Democratic Senate primary is crystallizing around one of the oldest tensions in democratic governance: the boundary between security and liberty. Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, trailing in polls but energized by a Bernie Sanders rally crowd, has made the Laken Riley Act her defining line in the sand — arguing that laws written in the name of public safety can become instruments of communal fear. Her rival Angie Craig's public reversal on her own vote for the act suggests that political positions, like rivers, are shaped by the terrain they flow through.
Flanagan Attacks Laken Riley Act at Sanders Rally in Minnesota Senate Bid
The green light to give ICE unprecedented power to terrorize communities
Mark
So Flanagan is running for Senate and using the Laken Riley Act as her main attack line. What exactly does that law do that has her so fired up?
Mimi
It removes certain due process protections for immigrants and allows ICE to detain people indefinitely without the usual legal safeguards. Flanagan sees it as giving ICE a license to operate without restraint.
Luke
Right, but we should be precise about what the law actually says versus what Flanagan claims it does. The source says she calls it a vessel to strip due process and enable indefinite detention—that's her characterization. We don't have the law's actual text here to verify those specific claims.
Mark
Fair point. So Craig voted for it and now regrets it. Is she trying to have it both ways?
Mimi
She's explaining her reasoning—she thought her constituents wanted stricter immigration enforcement under Biden. But she says Trump has gone beyond what the law allows, so she regrets enabling it.
Luke
That's what she wrote in the Star Tribune. But we don't know if that's genuine recalibration or political repositioning. The timing—right before a primary where Flanagan is attacking her on this—is worth noting.
Mark
Does Flanagan have the momentum in this race?
Mimi
She's trailing Craig in the latest polling, so no. This rally is part of her effort to energize the base and make immigration enforcement a wedge issue.
Luke
The source says she's trailing in RealClearPolitics averages, but we don't have the actual numbers or how recent they are. And we don't know how much this rally performance moves the needle.
Mark
What about the Republican side?
Mimi
They've got Royce White, the former basketball player, and Michele Tafoya, who was a sports reporter. It's a wide-open field.
Luke
Both are notable names, but the source doesn't tell us much about their positions or viability. We know they exist; we don't know who's ahead or what they're actually running on.
Le Pouls
- Flanagan is running from behind, and she knows it — so she is making immigration enforcement the sharpest possible wedge between herself and Craig in a primary where passion may matter more than polling.
- Craig's vote for the Laken Riley Act, once a calculated appeal to suburban moderates, has become a political wound she is now trying to close by publicly disavowing it in a newspaper op-ed.
- Flanagan invoked two anti-ICE activists killed in law enforcement shootings this year, drawing a direct and emotional line from the legislation to violence in Minnesota communities.
- The rally's 'Stop Oligarchy' framing — with Sanders, AG Keith Ellison, and retiring Sen. Tina Smith's reported endorsement — signals that Flanagan is consolidating the progressive infrastructure of the state party around her candidacy.
- Whoever wins the Democratic primary will face either a former NBA player or a former NFL broadcaster, making this race one of the more unusual general election matchups in the country.
In Rochester, Minnesota, a Democratic Senate primary is crystallizing around one of the oldest tensions in democratic governance: the boundary between security and liberty. Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, trailing in polls but energized by a Bernie Sanders rally crowd, has made the Laken Riley Act her defining line in the sand — arguing that laws written in the name of public safety can become instruments of communal fear. Her rival Angie Craig's public reversal on her own vote for the act suggests that political positions, like rivers, are shaped by the terrain they flow through.
Over the weekend in Rochester, Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan took the stage at a Bernie Sanders "Stop Oligarchy" rally and placed the Laken Riley Act at the center of her Senate campaign. She told the crowd the law handed ICE a blank check to terrorize immigrant communities, enabling indefinite detention without due process — for adults and children alike. Retiring Sen. Tina Smith, whose seat Flanagan is seeking, reportedly endorsed her at the event.
Flanagan currently trails Rep. Angie Craig in the Democratic primary, and the race has become a referendum on immigration enforcement. Craig is the only Minnesota Democrat in either chamber who voted for the Laken Riley Act — a vote she has since come to regret. In a recent op-ed, Craig wrote that she cast her ballot believing her constituents wanted a firmer immigration stance under Biden, but that Trump has since carried out sweeping raids far beyond the law's original scope. Flanagan used that reversal as a contrast point, noting that Sens. Smith and Klobuchar opposed the act from the start.
Flanagan also invoked the names of two anti-ICE activists killed in law enforcement shootings this year, framing their deaths as a consequence of the legislative environment the act helped create. She argued Trump's mass deportation agenda was never hidden — "There were literally gigantic signs," she said — positioning the act as a foreseeable enabler of the administration's ambitions.
The rally also featured Attorney General Keith Ellison. The Democratic nominee will ultimately face either former Houston Rockets player Royce White or former NBC broadcaster Michele Tafoya in the general election. Adding texture to the race is a reported undercurrent of tension between Flanagan and Gov. Tim Walz, whose vice presidential run foreclosed her path to the governorship — a dynamic quietly shaping the contours of this already charged primary.
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan stood before a crowd at a Bernie Sanders rally in Rochester over the weekend and made her opposition to the Laken Riley Act the centerpiece of her pitch to become the state's next U.S. senator. The law, she told the gathering at the "Stop Oligarchy" event, amounted to handing ICE a blank check to terrorize immigrant communities—stripping due process protections and enabling indefinite detention of both adults and children.
Flanagan is running in the Democratic primary to succeed retiring Sen. Tina Smith, who reportedly endorsed her at the rally. She currently trails Rep. Angie Craig in polling averages for the nomination. The primary has become a referendum on immigration enforcement, with Flanagan positioning herself as the uncompromising opponent of Trump administration deportation efforts while Craig, her main rival, has become a liability for her own vote in favor of the Laken Riley Act.
Flanagan invoked the names of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, two anti-ICE activists killed in law enforcement shootings earlier this year, as she traced a direct line from the Laken Riley Act to what she described as chaos in Minnesota communities. She framed the law not as a surprise but as the inevitable result of Trump's campaign promises. "It wasn't in the fine print," she said. "There were literally gigantic signs that said, mass deportees now." The Laken Riley Act, sponsored by Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, became the first major vote of Trump's second term in Congress, and Flanagan treated it as a defining moment—one that revealed the administration's true intentions.
Craig, the only Minnesota Democrat in either chamber to vote for the law, has now reversed course. In a recent op-ed in the Minnesota Star Tribune, she acknowledged that she cast her vote believing her suburban Minneapolis and Mankato constituents supported a tougher stance on immigration under the Biden administration. But she wrote that Trump has moved far beyond the law's scope, carrying out what she called "sweeping immigration raids that have terrorized Minnesotans." She now regrets the vote. Flanagan seized on this reversal at the rally, contrasting Craig's position with the steadfast opposition of Smith and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, both of whom voted against the act.
The rally also featured Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a figure closely associated with the state's response to the Minneapolis unrest. The Democratic primary winner will face either former Houston Rockets player Royce White or former NBC Sunday Night Football reporter Michele Tafoya, depending on the Republican primary outcome. Behind the scenes, reporting suggests tension between Flanagan and Gov. Tim Walz, who chose her as his running mate but whose failed vice presidential bid prevented her from ascending to the governorship through the line of succession—a dynamic that may be shaping the dynamics of this race.
Citations marquantes
It was the green light to give ICE unprecedented power to totally terrorize our communities.— Peggy Flanagan, at the Stop Oligarchy rally
Trump is going beyond the scope of law to carry out sweeping immigration raids that have terrorized Minnesotans.— Angie Craig, in the Minnesota Star Tribune, explaining her regret over voting for the Laken Riley Act
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