The press spent Wednesday morning explaining that the far left had finally hit its ceiling. A democratic socialist narrowly lost a primary in Wisconsin, and therefore the insurgency was over, the fever had broken, the moderates were back.
Somebody should have checked Minnesota.
On the same night, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan won the Democratic nomination for United States Senate by roughly twenty points, taking about 59 percent against Congresswoman Angie Craig in what is believed to be the most expensive primary in state history. Craig outspent her by something close to four to one. It did not matter. Minnesota Democrats were not buying moderation at any price.
Then Flanagan took the stage and told everyone exactly what she intends to do. Speaking about federal immigration enforcement, she said the country needs to "rip ICE apart" and stop the agency from terrorizing communities. This is not a stray line from a rally. It sits on her published campaign list alongside Medicare for All, universal childcare, and a promise to block the bombs, which is a phrase worth sitting with for a moment when the person using it is auditioning for a vote on national security.
Read the rest of what she said, though, because the contradiction is right there in the same breath. Immediately after calling for ICE to be torn apart, she pledged to fix the broken immigration system, secure the border, and build a pathway to citizenship that matches Minnesota values.
Secure the border with what, exactly?
This is the trick at the center of the abolish movement, and it deserves to be named plainly. Border security is not only a line on a map. It is interior enforcement, detention, and removal, which is the actual job of the agency she proposes to dismantle. A candidate can promise to secure the border, or she can promise to rip apart the agency that enforces immigration law inside the country, but she cannot deliver both, and Minnesota voters are entitled to ask which half of the sentence she means. The honest answer is usually the first half, because the first half is the applause line.
There is a second story here that the national coverage is soft-pedaling. Flanagan has served as Lieutenant Governor since 2019, alongside Governor Tim Walz, whose own reelection plans collapsed under a sprawling fraud scandal that has embarrassed the state. Governor Walz declined to endorse anyone in the primary. His wife endorsed Flanagan's opponent. When the governor's own household splits against the woman who has stood beside him for seven years, that is not a rounding error. That is a verdict, and it is the sort of thing Republicans should be quoting in October.
Republicans nominated Michele Tafoya, the former NFL sideline reporter turned commentator, who took her primary with about 52 percent and has the backing of the national Senate campaign committee. Be clear-eyed about the terrain. Minnesota has not elected a Republican to statewide office since 2006 and has not sent a Republican to the Senate since Norm Coleman. Tafoya starts behind.
She also starts with an opponent who announced her immigration platform in four words.
Nobody has to guess what is on the ballot in Minnesota. The Democratic nominee said it out loud on primary night, and 59 percent of her party had already said amen.
