Minnesota’s Democrat Senate candidate now admits “more should have been done sooner” on a fraud scandal that unfolded while she was the state’s second-in-command.
Quick Take
- Republican Michele Tafoya is closing in on Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan in the Minnesota Senate race, with recent polls showing a dead heat.
- Flanagan served as lieutenant governor during Minnesota’s massive Feeding Our Future fraud scandal, which federal officials say involved hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen taxpayer funds.
- Flanagan publicly said “the buck stops” with Governor Tim Walz, but admitted “more should have been done sooner.”
- A House Oversight Committee report accuses Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison of knowing about the fraud for years and failing to stop it.
A Tightening Senate Race Puts Fraud Front and Center
Michele Tafoya, the former NFL sportscaster turned Republican Senate candidate, is hammering Peggy Flanagan over her role in Minnesota’s fraud crisis as the race tightens. Recent polling shows Flanagan clinging to a narrow lead, with some surveys showing the candidates virtually tied. Tafoya’s campaign argues voters deserve answers about what Flanagan knew and when she knew it.
The scandal Tafoya keeps bringing up is not small. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel has described the Feeding Our Future case as involving roughly $500 million in illegally diverted federal funds, with about 100 people indicted and most already convicted. Other estimates for the broader web of Minnesota fraud schemes run even higher, with some reports citing figures near $9 billion.
Flanagan Was Second-in-Command When the Scheme Exploded
Flanagan has been Minnesota’s lieutenant governor throughout the years the fraud metastasized, making her Governor Walz’s top deputy while the scandal unfolded on their watch. Fox News described her flatly as the administration’s “No. 2 official” as the scheme “exploded under states’ watch”. That timeline is not disputed. The question dogging her Senate bid is how much responsibility comes with that title.
Under Flanagan’s name, a Minnesota House statement on childcare fraud said, “We’re all troubled by the instances of fraud highlighted recently,” while pointing to enforcement work already done by state agencies. That statement shows her office was aware fraud was a problem. It does not, however, tie her personally to any of the specific schemes that dominated national headlines.
Her Own Words Keep Coming Back to Haunt Her
Asked directly in an August 2026 interview whether she bears responsibility for the scandal, Flanagan said, “The governor says the buck stops with him, more should have been done sooner, and I agree”. That is a remarkable admission from a sitting lieutenant governor now asking Minnesotans to promote her to the United States Senate. She has since tried shifting blame toward Republicans, at one point accusing them of “distracting” from what she called a corrupt president.
Flanagan’s campaign insists she has “made clear that the amount of fraud that is acceptable is zero,” pointing to dozens of prosecutions already secured. Her defenders note that no named whistleblower or court document in the public record ties her personally to authorizing fraudulent payments or pocketing stolen funds. That distinction matters, but it has not stopped voters from asking hard questions about her leadership.
Congress Says Walz and Ellison Knew for Years
The House Oversight Committee has taken the fraud fight to Washington, holding a hearing titled “Oversight of Fraud and Misuse of Federal Funds in Minnesota” in January 2026 and later releasing a final staff report. That report accuses senior Minnesota officials, including Walz and Attorney General Ellison, of knowing about widespread fraud in federally funded programs for years while having the authority to stop it. Flanagan served alongside both men throughout that period.
A new poll shows DFL Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Republican Michele Tafoya are effectively tied in the race for U.S. Senate in Minnesota. https://t.co/1V5lEWzC24
— Bette R Anderson (@BetteRAnderson1) September 16, 2026
Minnesota’s own Legislative Auditor found the state’s Department of Education had “inadequate oversight” that “created opportunities for fraud,” and failed to act on warning signs before the pandemic even began. That finding shows the failure ran deep inside state government itself, not just at the federal level. For a lieutenant governor now asking for a promotion to the Senate, that record is proving hard to outrun with polls this close.
Sources:
fox9.com, oversight.house.gov, newsmax.com, foxnews.com, msn.com, x.com
