Angie Craig to skip DFL convention in favor of primary for US Senate

MINNEAPOLIS - U.S. Rep. Angie Craig is forgoing the DFL Party's endorsement fight in the race for U.S. Senate, announcing the move Wednesday as she filed to move on directly to the August primary for the open seat.

Craig's announcement came as Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan's campaign claimed a 3-to-1 lead over the congresswoman in the race to secure support from the DFL delegates. The two were expected to face off for the party's endorsement at its convention in Rochester this weekend.

"I'm a proud DFLer. Every letter has meaning to me," Craig said in prepared remarks to supporters. "But the DFL endorsement process just doesn't reflect the full scope of the party that we are. And the purple state that we have become."

In a statement, Flanagan campaign spokeswoman Lexi Byler said despite Craig's fundraising advantage and months of organizing, "DFLers overwhelmingly consolidated behind Peggy Flanagan because they're hungry for a leader who will stand up to corporate power, not bend to Republicans, and fight unapologetically for working people."

"It's clear that Peggy Flanagan is the consensus candidate," Byler said.

Both Craig and Flanagan were already expected to move on to the August primary for the seat currently held by Sen. Tina Smith, who is retiring next year. But with Craig out of the contest, Flanagan is expected easily secure the DFL's backing, giving her campaign a boost against the more well-financed Craig.

Backed by a massive fundraising edge and a record of winning tough suburban races, Craig entered the Senate contest as the presumed front-runner and the Democrat many party insiders viewed as best positioned for a general election matchup against Republicans.

But Flanagan has built momentum at local party conventions and through grassroots organizing, tapping into a progressive backlash to President Donald Trump and his administration's weekslong immigration crackdown in the state. She's lined up a long list of prominent progressive endorsements, including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Smith is backing Flanagan to replace her.

Craig suffered blowback over her vote for the Laken Riley Act, which allows federal authorities to detain undocumented immigrants arrested for certain nonviolent crimes. That criticism grew even louder after Operation Metro Surge brought thousands of immigration agents to Minnesota, resulting in the deaths of two American citizens.

While the DFL nod brings with it money and party support, Democratic primary voters have often flouted the endorsement, which is determined by a few thousand delegates.

In 2018, Gov. Tim Walz and Flanagan lost the endorsement for governor and lieutenant governor to Sens. Erin Murphy and Erin Maye Quade. And in 2010 as he sought the governor's office, Mark Dayton skipped the endorsement process and was denied entry to the convention.

"Mark Dayton famously ‘disrespected' the process, but that didn't work against him, necessarily," said Joe Radinovich, a longtime DFL strategist in Minnesota who supports Craig.

Radinovich said he does not blame Craig for skipping out on a process he believes "disadvantages" candidates who come from tough swing districts.

"What we've seen this year is that the group of delegates, which is 2% of registered voters, essentially, is fairly progressive," he said. "Maybe even more left leaning than this group traditionally is."

Those activists are not necessarily representative of the broader primary electorate that Craig is hoping to win over, he said.

"I think Angie Craig is a fighter, so I would never count her out."

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-Ryan Faircloth of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.

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This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 5:21 PM.