Minnesota Fraud Scandal Follows Flanagan Into Final Days of Senate Race

Minnesota Democrats have held this Senate seat for decades, and polls still show them ahead. But the state's fraud scandals have become the sharpest issue in the race, and Republican Michele Tafoya is making sure voters do not forget them.

NBC News analyst Steve Kornacki highlighted the dynamic on "TODAY" this week, saying Republicans believe the Medicaid fraud scandal is working in their favor and that the tie to the state's leadership might be hurting Democrats.

Tafoya, a former NFL sideline reporter, is running against Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan for the seat being vacated by Sen. Tina Smith. Her argument is simple. Flanagan has served alongside Gov. Tim Walz for eight years, during which multiple fraud cases hit programs funded by taxpayers. The most notorious, Feeding Our Future, involved roughly $250 million meant to feed children during the pandemic, and numerous defendants have been convicted.

The clash came to a head at the candidates' October 16 debate. Flanagan said Walz had accepted responsibility and that overseeing the programs was not her job. Tafoya was not buying it. "This historic fraud happened under her watch," she said.

Flanagan has answered by pointing to her government experience and warning that Tafoya would back President Trump's agenda in Washington.

The numbers remain an uphill climb. A Rasmussen survey had Flanagan up 48% to 45%, but The New York Times/Siena showed her ahead 54% to 40%, and the RealClearPolitics average through October 28 had her up by 5.8 points. Republicans have not won a Minnesota Senate race since 2002.

Whatever happens Tuesday, conservatives say the principle holds: leaders who take credit for an administration's record should also answer for how it handled taxpayers' money.