MORNING GLORY: Minnesota's massive fraud scandal could deliver a stunning Senate upset

"This historic fraud happened under her watch, and suddenly, she’s looking out for Medicaid and SNAP? Sell it to someone else, Peggy."

With this debate response to Minnesota Democratic Senate nominee Peggy Flanagan’s protestations of concern over access to benefits for the very poor, Republican nominee for Senate Michele Tafoya sealed her status as "rookie of the year" in American politics.

A longtime NFL broadcast professional, Tafoya demonstrated decades of quick on-camera thinking in her debate last week with Flanagan and combined it with a deft slash at Flanagan’s greatest vulnerability: Flanagan’s apprenticeship as lieutenant governor to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz during the tidal wave of fraud that swept across Minnesota after Covid-era "look-the-other-way" policies became a feature, not a bug, in Minnesota’s vast system of "safety net" programs.

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A federal prosecutor estimated the amount of fraud in Minnesota’s spending at as much as $9 billion — that’s a "b" as in "billion." That is a remarkable sum given the Gopher State’s population of fewer than 6 million souls and an annual budget of about $67 billion. To squander an amount equal to close to 15% of a state’s budget on thieves and con artists is staggering.

That level of corruption forced Walz to drop his planned campaign for re-election and now dogs Flanagan in her head-to-head campaign with Tafoya for the Senate.

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As does the rising fear of gangs of Somali-American youths and the sort of violence that recently stunned suburban Twin Cities voters when a shootout occurred at an Eden Prairie high school homecoming game.

Eden Prairie is a standard-issue affluent suburban town of about 65,000 people. Fewer than 3,000 Somali-Americans live in Eden Prairie, but the gang shootout on October 2 at Aerie Stadium, during Eden Prairie High School’s game against Minnetonka High School, shocked voters across the entire state.

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Tafoya was quick to note that everyone arrested in the incident — which left two youths wounded and crowds quickly evacuated from the canceled game — was out on bail within days. That shootout plus the fraud have dominated Gopher State media coverage of the Senate race this month.

Tafoya’s knockout line — "Sell it to someone else, Peggy" — was a wake-up call for the electorate. Even longtime Democrats in Minnesota are looking around their beloved state and cannot fathom why it has been engulfed in corruption and crime.

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Tafoya would have been a good candidate in any cycle. She’s a terrific one for a midterm statewide campaign when her matchup is among the most watched in the country.

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