- Another domino falls in Minnesota's 2026 election cycle.
Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig entered the U.S. Senate race Tuesday, joining a growing field to replace retiring Sen. Tina Smith.
Craig’s entry to the Senate race means she won’t seek a fifth term to her U.S. House seat, a decision likely to create a competitive contest to replace her in the Second Congressional District.
Craig’s announcement comes as she’s been raising her profile in recent weeks by holding town halls in the districts of the four Republican members of the Minnesota congressional delegation who have chosen to hold virtual town halls instead.
She joins the Democratic field with Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and former state Sen. Melisa López Franzen, who have been campaigning for the last several weeks. She has the most money of the Democrats in the field.
The way I see it, Craig is immediately the frontrunner for the Dem nomination. Yes her fundraising prowess is superior but she is also not perceived as far left as Flanagan and has significantly higher name recognition than López Franzen. And even if Flanagan were to get the DFL endorsement (quite likely since the party grassroots is so far left), Craig with her insurmountable war chest will most assuredly take this battle to a primary where she will prevail.
So now Craig's Congressional seat in CD2 is suddenly open, meaning there are plenty of candidates from both parties throwing out feelers.
In the Democratic field, Tara Erickson, a campaign spokesperson for state Sen. Matt Klein, told the Star Tribune the DFLer from Mendota Heights is planning to announce a run for the Second Congressional District seat “in the coming weeks.”
Former state Sen. Matt Little previously told the Star Tribune he would run for Craig’s House seat if she ran for Senate. Former Minneapolis DFL Vice Chair Mike Norton has also said he plans to run for Craig’s seat.
In the Republican field, Craig’s two-time Republican opponent Tyler Kistner plans to announce he’s running for the seat “soon,” his advisor, Matthew Pagano, told the Star Tribune.
Kistner had the support from the NRCC and Second Congressional District Republicans during his 2020 and 2022 runs against Craig.
Tayler Rahm, who dropped out of the Second Congressional District Republican primary last year and had strong support from the district’s conservative grassroots base, also did not rule out another run when recently asked.
“Right now, I’m keeping my options open,” Rahm said in an interview earlier this month. “My decision is going to be based on what is best for the district and for my family.”
Joe Teirab, Craig’s most recent Republican opponent, also didn’t rule out a bid when asked this month. And state Sen. Eric Pratt, R-Prior Lake, said: “I haven’t made a decision,” when recently asked this month if he plans to run.
This has been a swing district ever since John Kline chose not to seek reelection in 2016. However, Craig had won every election since 2018, including a whopping 13-point victory last November. And given the '26 climate is shaping up to be difficult for Republicans, this seat (as of today anyhow) will likely stay blue.
- University of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders fell all the way to the 5th round of the NFL draft despite many draft prognosticators rating him as the second best QB available. There's a lot of credible speculation as to why he slid so far, but I don't care to get into that here.
Nevertheless, I found an undeniable heartwarming moment when Sanders expressed his delight (and likely relief) upon being drafted. And said moment came courtesy of a.....fast food company?!?!?!
Hopefully this humbling experience serves as a springboard for Sanders. I know I'll be rooting for him.
- The good, bad and ugly of the first 100 days of President Donald Trump's second term.
Good: The southern U.S. border is under control to the point where America no longer appears to be under a foreign invasion. And thus far Trump appears to have unified a fragile House majority ready to codify his fiscal agenda, for which only a simple majority would be required in both Congressional chambers if done via reconciliation.
Bad: Trump and his administration's incoherent message on tariffs has spooked investors to the point where the stock market has lost trillions of dollars in market cap over the past month. Given a significant number of Americans have their retirement funds tied to the stock market, this is having real world consequences for the working class folks Trump says he's fighting for.
Ugly: Whether it's needlessly alienating allies with nonsensical desires to make their country a 51st state or the defense department flouting protocols when handling sensitive information, what was a seemingly calm first month of the Trump administration has suddenly resembled the raging garbage fire we saw in the final months of his first term.
And we only have 1,360 days to go.
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