Democratic representative Angie Craig announced on Tuesday that she runs for the Senate in Minnesota, an expected campaign that establishes a primary school full between Craig, Lieutenant Governor of the State and a former state legislative leader.
In his advertisement video, Craig criticized President Donald Trump for “trampling our rights and freedoms as it benefits,” Elon Musk as “an un chosen billionaire who tries to take control of our government and burn him to the ground” and “Cobardic Republicans of Congress.”
“It’s time to defend yourself. We have to break the chaos and take them head -on,” says Craig.
Craig is part of a helpless who went from growing in a mobile house and working at the university to defeat a republican member of Congress, and she says that she and her wife “fought like hell to be parents of our four wonderful children” when he lived in Tennessee.
“We are proud of Minnesotans, a state of fierce independence, freedom and community. People willing to assume the powerful and fight for what is correct,” says Craig in his release video. “That is why I am running for the United States Senate: listen, fight for all Minnesota and win.”
She is part of a growing field of candidates seeking to replace Senator Tina Smith, the Democrat who announced this winter who would not seek re -election. Smith is one of the four Democratic senators who go in the late 2026, and his departure opens a seat in a state of state Democrats to win (the last time the Republicans won a seat in the Senate in Minnesota was 2002), but one that has become more competitive in recent years.
Craig is no stranger to difficult careers, which is likely that his allies point out, since he holds for a state nomination. When the second district of Minnesota was one of the best battlefields in the country, Craig lost by little to the representative of the Republican Party Jason Lewis in 2016, but knocked him down two years later and joined the house in 2019. He won difficult reelections in 2020 and 2022 before scoring a two -digit victory last year.
Despite winning the upper Democratic position in the Chamber of Agriculture Committee before this Congress, Craig will leave its seat to find a place in the Senate (leaving the Democrats to defend their seat while waiting to resume the control of the camera). And she will not have a clear path: the current field includes Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan and the former leader of the State Senate Melisa López Franzen.
Flanagan, who would be the first American native woman in the Senate if she wins, immediately indicated after the removal of Smith that would run to replace her. She is in her second term as number 2 of Governor Tim Walz, and received some national attention when she spoke at the Democratic National Convention. She has sought in the first weeks of her campaign to frame herself as a candidate promising to face Trump and her “best friends.”
Before Craig’s expected announcement, Flanagan launched a handful of endorsements of key Democrats in the state, such as Attorney General Keith Ellison and the former senator to Franken (who resigned in 2017 amid accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior), as well as a handful of state legislators in the Craig Congress district.
López Franzen, in the first weeks of his campaign, has been inclined both in his time in the legislature and in an eligibility argument in a state that told Minnesota Public Radio is “Purple.” While the Republicans have not won a Senate choice in more than two decades, Trump lost the State in just 4 points last year, and the State Chamber is uniformly divided between Republicans and Democrats.
Although the Democratic candidate is likely to enter the favored general elections given the success of the Democrats throughout the State, the open seat provides Republicans for an opportunity.
Royce White, the Republican candidate who lost to Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar last year and has gained notoriety (and fueled the controversy) with an online incendiary presence, is being operated again.
The Navy Seal retired Adam Schwarze is also running, and it is possible that the field grows: former sports announcer Michele Tafoya (who previously worked for NBC) has become more Franco in recent years in support of conservative policies, criticizing Minnesota Democrats in social networks, and has not yet closed the door in the race.
National Republicans did not spend much time and money supporting Royce’s offer last year and could take control of the Senate. But although some are optimistic with the idea that an open seat gives them a better opportunity in the state, it is not clear how competitive the seat will be next year.
Democrats need a net profit of four seats to recover control of the Senate, a difficult task taking into account that they have to defend the seats controlled by Democrat in two states that Trump won last year (Georgia and Michigan) and two open seats (in Minnesota and New Hampshire) and that have limited opportunities to go to the offensive, with only a handful of careers Competitive Republicans.
