Peggy Flanagan's Stand on Progressive Policies

Peggy Flanagan runs for U.S. Senate as the Minnesota DFL nominee. She says she has been a DFL member since she could talk. Bernie Sanders, who calls himself a democratic socialist, gave her his support. Even though she gets that backing, Flanagan does not call herself a democratic socialist.

On many issues she lines up with the DSA agenda. She backs Medicare for All, a single-payer health care system. She also supports paid parental leave, strong public schools, and a higher minimum wage. When it comes to the war in Gaza, she describes it as genocide, just like many democratic socialists do.

But she splits from the DSA on other points. Flanagan wants to take apart ICE and build something new, yet she does not call for the agency to disappear completely. She opposes privately run prisons but does not demand the end of all prisons. The DSA goes further, asking for public ownership of major industries, a 32-hour work week, and a single legislative chamber instead of Minnesota's two-house system.

In the primary Flanagan beat her centrist DFL rival Angie Craig by about twenty points. After the vote, Republicans ran ads calling her an extremist and a socialist. A political science professor noted that voters are accustomed to hearing such extreme labels from both parties and usually do not let them sway their opinion.