Republican Senate candidate Michele Tafoya pressed Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan during Friday’s debate over her responsibility for the fraud scandals that have rocked the state in recent years.
Asked whether she accepted “any ownership over the fraud that occurred over the last two terms of this administration,” Flanagan, a Democrat, pointed to Gov. Tim Walz. “The governor’s been very clear that the buck stops with him,” she said. “He was the one who had oversight here.”
Flanagan then highlighted her oversight of school meals, saying, “Those are the things and those are the areas where I took the lead.”
Tafoya countered that school lunch programs were among the welfare initiatives targeted by scammers. The alleged scheme, linked to the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, ultimately cost taxpayers $250 million in COVID-era funds.
In December 2025, then-U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said as much as $9 billion in taxpayer money may have been stolen from Minnesota state coffers since 2018—the year Walz was first elected governor.
“They didn’t get lunch from Feeding Your Future,” Tafoya said in response. “Listen, I am going to Washington to be an equal opportunity pain in the ass to any corrupt, career politician.”
“I don’t care which side of the aisle they’re on or which office they hold,” added Tafoya, a former NFL sideline reporter. “Only one of us let $9 billion walk out the door to fraud.”
Tafoya argued that Flanagan should be held accountable because she served as the state’s “second in charge” while the fraud occurred.
“She was second in charge in this state, and she’s just going to point her finger at Gov. Tim Walz, when she demanded it be the Walz-Flanagan administration, when she demanded to be in the room where everything happened,” Tafoya said.
“But suddenly she has nothing to do with this? My goodness, sell it to someone else.”
The exchange came during the candidates’ first and only scheduled debate of the election cycle.
Earlier in the debate, Flanagan said she was “angry too” over the misuse of taxpayer money. “The governor said that more should have been done and more should have been done sooner,” she said. “And I agree with him.”
Flanagan holds a 2.6-percentage-point lead over Tafoya in the race, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Tafoya worked for several networks as an NFL sideline reporter, including NBC Sports’ “Sunday Night Football,” before announcing her Senate campaign in January.
Flanagan has served as Walz’s lieutenant governor since January 2019.
