Flanagan and Tafoya Make Final Pitches in Minnesota's Open Senate Race as Early Voting Surges

Republican Michele Tafoya and Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan are in the final stretch of Minnesota's U.S. Senate race, as record early voting is rising fastest in seven rural counties previously won by President Donald Trump. The seat is open because Democratic Sen. Tina Smith is retiring when her term ends January 3. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to win control of the Senate. Tafoya, a former NFL sideline reporter, told Newsmax on Monday that she is willing to work across the aisle, unlike Flanagan. Analysts cited by Newsweek warned that early turnout data does not reliably predict which party benefits. Corruption has emerged as a key issue: Flanagan has focused on allegations tied to Trump, while Tafoya has tried to link Flanagan to controversies during her time as lieutenant governor under Gov. Tim Walz. Flanagan has also criticized Operation Metro Surge, the federal immigration deployment in Minnesota in which Renée Good and Alex Pretti were killed.

Newsmax, the right-leaning outlet, leads with Tafoya's own words, presenting her as a bipartisan problem-solver and Flanagan as a far-left, automatic vote for her party. Only an excerpt was available, so it is unclear what else the piece covers. The Nation, on the left, leads with Flanagan's closing argument against Trump and spends its piece on Tafoya's record on Operation Metro Surge. It cites her December podcast defense of ICE, the ICE footage in her campaign video, and her remarks about Good on a radio show, and it calls her positions extreme and erratic. The two sides share only the candidates and the race; neither mentions the other's main theme. Newsweek, the alternative source, stands apart with a numbers-driven angle on early-voting turnout in Trump-won rural counties and a note of analyst caution.