Tim Walz's Lt. Gov Peggy Flanagan May Soon Be The First Indigenous Female Governor

Flanagan also has an incredibly strong earring game.

Today is a very exciting day, what with Kamala Harris picking Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate and all. I have to admit, I’m extremely relieved, because we’ve had such good “Democrats In Array” energy happening right and it did seem like the kind of problem Democrats just love to fix!

Walz is just an absolute ray of sunshine and it’s bringing good vibes all around — including in Minnesota! Because while the state will surely miss him, under the state’s succession plan, next in line is Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan!

Not only does Lt. Gov Flanagan seem very cool and sartorially interesting, she would also be historic — she’d be Minnesota’s first female governor, as well as the country’s first female indigenous governor. How cool is that? So cool.

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Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, has served with Walz since he was first elected in 2019 and has been a champion of Indigenous rights throughout.

Via Daily Beast:

“It’s always a good day when there are lots and lots of Native folks walking around the Capitol and we start with a drum on the front steps,” Flanagan told ICT News during American Indigenous Day this year. “This is how it’s supposed to be.”

Flanagan and Walz signed a landmark Indigenous sovereignty bill in 2021 which affirmed “tribal sovereignty; requires state agencies to appoint tribal-state liaisons and recognize the unique legal relationship between the State of Minnesota; and mandates tribal-state relations training for state leaders and employees.”

She also worked to establish the nation’s first Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office.

Flanagan, who previously served in the Minnesota House of Representatives and on the Minneapolis School Board, has also been a strong advocate for transgender people and for providing gender-affirming care to trans kids (as has Gov. Walz).

I also must note that Flanagan appears to have an extremely good earring collection. Like, every single picture I have seen of her, she is wearing a different pair of fabulous earrings.

As a known big earring enthusiast … respect.

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Flanagan isn’t the only one in Minnesota who would make history if she were to become governor — Bobby Joe Champion, the current state Senate president, would become the first-ever Black Lieutenant Governor in the state. Personally, if that were my name, I would have been a rock star, but I’m sure he’ll do great in the Governor’s office.

Good luck to them both!