1. Margaret Ann Flanagan is an American politician and Native American activist serving as the 50th lieutenant governor of Minnesota since 2019.
22 Facts About Peggy Flanagan
1. 2.
Peggy Flanagan grew up in Saint Louis Park, Minnesota, an inner-ring suburb of Minneapolis.
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Peggy Flanagan is a citizen of the White Earth Nation.
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Peggy Flanagan got her start as a community organizer organizing the urban indigenous community, including for US Senator Paul Wellstone's 2002 reelection campaign.
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Peggy Flanagan was elected to and served on the Minneapolis Public Schools Board from 2005 to 2009.
6.
Peggy Flanagan was elected lieutenant governor in 2018 and reelected in 2022, both times as Tim Walz's running mate, becoming the first woman of color elected to statewide office in Minnesota, and the highest-ranking Native American woman in elected office in the nation.
7.
On February 13,2025, Peggy Flanagan announced her candidacy for the US Senate seat to which Tina Smith has declined to run for reelection in 2026.
8.
The daughter of American Indian land rights and sovereignty activist Marvin Manypenny, Peggy Flanagan was raised in St Louis Park, Minnesota, by her mother, Patricia Elizabeth Peggy Flanagan, a lifelong DFL activist who worked for Hubert Humphrey.
9.
Peggy Flanagan is of Irish and Ojibwe descent and is a citizen of the White Earth Nation.
10.
Peggy Flanagan is a graduate of St Louis Park High School and received a bachelor's degree in child psychology and American Indian studies from the University of Minnesota in 2002.
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Peggy Flanagan was elected along with Lydia Lee and incumbent Sharon Henry-Blythe and served one term on the board, from 2005 to 2009.
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Peggy Flanagan was then appointed to briefly serve on the school board again from 2010 until 2011.
13.
Peggy Flanagan was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives unopposed in a special election on November 3,2015, and sworn in on November 9.
14.
Peggy Flanagan was invited to address the 2016 Democratic National Convention on July 28,2016.
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Peggy Flanagan was the second Native American woman to address the DNC, after Denise Juneau in 2012.
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In 2017, Peggy Flanagan became a candidate for lieutenant governor, joining US Representative Tim Walz, who won the DFL primary in the 2018 Minnesota gubernatorial election.
17.
Peggy Flanagan was one of four chairs of the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
18.
Peggy Flanagan supported Walz's executive order protecting access to gender-affirming care for adults and youth.
19.
Peggy Flanagan has a daughter with her former husband, Tim Hellendrung.
20.
Peggy Flanagan is Catholic and attends St Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Maple Grove.
21.
Peggy Flanagan's death was the second one caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Tennessee.
22.
In July 2020, Flanagan received the Dr B Robert Lewis Award from the Minnesota Public Health Association for her work on addressing inequities in public health.