A Harris-Walz victory would make Peggy Flanagan country's first Native American female governor
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan could make history if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the 2024 election with her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz.
Flanagan would become the state's first female governor, and the first Native American woman to serve as governor in the country's history. A member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, she is currently the country's highest-ranking Native American woman elected to executive office.
As outlined in the state constitution, in the event of a vacancy in the governor's office, the lieutenant governor would step into the role. Then the president of the state Senate, Sen. Bobby Joe Champion, would be elevated to the role of lieutenant governor. Champion would then become the state's first Black lieutenant governor.
During her time in office, Flanagan helped establish the country's first Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office, dedicated to preventing the targeting of Indigenous women, children and two-spirited people.
Flanagan has also worked to make childcare and housing more affordable and is a vocal supporter of abortion rights.
Before her time in elected office, she worked for the progressive group Wellstone Action, training organizers, elected officials and candidates with dreams of taking office. She even trained Walz, who before his political career first in Congress and then as governor, was a high school social studies teacher.
She then served as the executive director of the Children's Defense Fund before she was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2015.
Flanagan grew up in St. Louis Park, where she still lives with her husband, daughter and dog.