Education Minnesota endorses Flanagan for U.S. Senate
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CHRIS WILLIAMS
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ST. PAUL, Minnesota. Sept. 25, 2026 — Education Minnesota has endorsed Peggy Flanagan for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Tina Smith. Flanagan, Minnesota’s DFL lieutenant governor, faces Republican Michele Tafoya in the Nov. 3 general election.
Educators interviewed Flanagan during the endorsement process. The recommendation was accepted or approved by the political action committees of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association.
“Peggy Flanagan has spent her career fighting for public education and the families that depend on it, and in the Senate, she’ll keep doing exactly that,” said Monica Byron, president of Education Minnesota. “Educators need a fighter in Washington, especially now, and Peggy Flanagan is ours.”
Flanagan supports the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, known as the PRO Act, and the right of public employees to organize and bargain collectively. She opposes private school vouchers and supports full federal funding for Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. She also backs the Pay Teachers Act, which would set a $60,000 minimum salary for teachers and $45,000 for paraprofessionals.
Flanagan is a graduate of St. Louis Park Public Schools, a former Minneapolis Public Schools board member and the mother of a student in the St. Louis Park school district.
Education Minnesota’s endorsement also reflects Tafoya’s public record on labor unions of educators. In a May 2026 interview on the podcast “Spot On with Link Lauren,” Tafoya said public schools are “beholden to the teachers union” and claimed “the teachers unions want Marxism taught.” The previous month, on the podcast “Planet Tyrus,” she blamed “despicable relationships with the teachers’ unions” for what she called a significant decline in Minnesota’s education system. On her own YouTube channel, Tafoya has blamed “the decline of the public school here in Minnesota” on the fact that “teachers are represented by unions.”
Tafoya has also called herself embarrassed to live in Minnesota. In a March 2023 social media post, since deleted but reported this week by CNN’s KFile, she wrote that she was “embarrassed to say I live in Minnesota.” CNN found she has told followers at least four times over the past three years that she planned to leave the state.
“Michele Tafoya has made disrespecting Minnesota’s educators part of her campaign, and that’s not surprising from someone who’s called herself embarrassed to live in our state,” said Byron. “Minnesota deserves a senator who is a proud Minnesotan and supports public schools and the hundreds of thousands of students learning in them every day, and that’s Peggy Flanagan.”
About Education Minnesota
Education Minnesota is the voice for professional educators and students. Education Minnesota’s members include teachers and education support professionals in Minnesota’s public school districts, faculty members at Minnesota’s community and technical colleges and University of Minnesota campuses in Duluth and Crookston, retired educators and student teachers. Education Minnesota is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and AFL-CIO.
