First posted on Instagram · @profilopolitics
Flanagan made the post on Tuesday, telling followers her Ojibwe name and what it means — and taking a direct shot at the president in the same breath.
"My Ojibwe name is Gizhiiwewidamookwe, which means 'Speaks in a Loud and Clear Voice Woman.' I'm going to be Minnesota's voice in the U.S. Senate — not Donald Trump's." — Peggy Flanagan
The reaction came fast. Critics mocked the post online and used the moment to take fresh aim at her candidacy, with conservative commentators drawing a straight line to Elizabeth Warren and the "Pocahontas" fights of past campaigns. Newsmax host Greg Kelly had already questioned Flanagan's Native identity on air after her primary win, asking whether she was "Pocahontas 2" — a line her supporters call a smear and her critics keep repeating.
Flanagan, 47, is no newcomer to the identity she is campaigning on. A citizen of the White Earth Nation, she has served as Minnesota's lieutenant governor since 2019 as Tim Walz's running mate — the first woman of color elected to statewide office in Minnesota and the highest-ranking Native American woman in elected executive office in the country. She introduced herself by the same Ojibwe name on the Democratic National Convention stage in 2024, and in August she won the DFL nomination to run for the seat Sen. Tina Smith is retiring from.
Republicans, meanwhile, are rallying behind Michele Tafoya, the former NBC Sports sideline reporter who won the Republican nomination. Tafoya's campaign has hammered state spending, public safety, immigration and the fraud scandals in Minnesota's public programs, and her side argues Minnesota voters have a clear choice to make about who should represent them in Washington.
The stakes are national. The open seat is one of a handful that will decide control of the Senate for the second half of President Trump's term, and Minnesota has not sent a Republican to the Senate since 2002. With Election Day three weeks away, the political battle is intensifying, and both sides are fighting to win over every voter.
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