She may be the first Native American woman elected to the United States Senate, but Peggy Flanagan knows better than most that no woman gets there alone. Behind her historic victory is a community of Indigenous women who spent generations organizing, advocating and making room for the next leader.
Have you ever noticed how we love to celebrate the woman who finally gets the seat, but sometimes forget the women who spent years making sure there was a seat to begin with?
Well, Minnesota’s Peggy Flanagan has a story that deserves a little more than a victory headline.
On November 3, voters elected Flanagan to the United States Senate, making her the first Native American woman elected to the chamber. A member of the White Earth Nation, she defeated Republican Michele Tafoya in Minnesota’s open Senate race.
And while Washington is preparing to welcome a historic new senator, Flanagan is making it very clear that she did not arrive there alone.
In fact, one of the most interesting moments in her political journey happened long before she ever appeared on a statewide ballot.
More than twenty years ago, Flanagan attended an education event at the Minneapolis American Indian Center. She offered to help anyone interested in running for the Minneapolis school board. The longtime director of the center, Franny Fairbanks, turned the question around.
“My girl, why don’t you do it?”
Sometimes the person who changes your life is not delivering a grand speech. Sometimes she’s simply an auntie who sees something in you that you haven’t quite recognized in yourself.
Flanagan took the advice. She ran for the school board and won in 2004.
And that was just the beginning.
A WOMAN ROOTED IN COMMUNITY
Flanagan grew up in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Her mother, Patricia, raised her on her own with help from public programs. Her father, Marvin Manypenny, was a White Earth activist who helped organize a grassroots campaign to fight for the tribe’s land claims.
Her upbringing placed her close to the realities of community organizing, family responsibility and the importance of protecting the people and places that shape your identity.
After graduating from the University of Minnesota, where she studied child psychology and American Indian studies, her first professional job was at the Division of Indian Work in Minneapolis. There, she helped connect Native children and their families with schools and community resources.
Children remained at the center of her work. She later served on the Minneapolis school board and led the Children’s Defense Fund of Minnesota.
Her career was not built around simply getting elected. It was built around showing up.
She worked on Senator Paul Wellstone’s campaigns while she was a student, organizing within Minnesota’s urban Native community. After Wellstone died in a plane crash in 2002, she joined Wellstone Action, an organization created to continue his legacy by training political organizers and candidates.
She spent years helping other people learn how to organize, campaign and lead.
Imagine that. Before becoming a senator, she was helping prepare other people to become leaders.
THE WOMEN BEHIND THE FIRST
Here is where Peggy Flanagan’s story becomes even more meaningful.
Her election is historic, but Native American women have been leading their communities for generations. Their leadership has often happened outside the spotlight of national politics, through tribal governments, community organizations, schools, advocacy groups and movements protecting Indigenous rights.
Flanagan has repeatedly credited those women for helping shape her career.
She learned from elders, organizers and community leaders who fought for education, housing, public safety, treaty rights and the protection of Native families.
In Minnesota, generations of Native women helped build institutions that became essential to the urban Indigenous community. Women established organizations, created support systems and encouraged younger generations to take leadership roles.
Flanagan’s first school board campaign grew out of those relationships.
She has said she could not have run for the Senate without Native women.
That is a powerful statement, especially in a political culture that often celebrates individual achievement as though success happens in isolation.
Behind this first was a network of women who organized, mentored, encouraged and opened doors.
And perhaps that is the part of the story we should spend more time discussing.
FROM MINNESOTA TO WASHINGTON
Flanagan entered the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2015. In 2018, she became lieutenant governor alongside Tim Walz, making history as one of the state’s highest-ranking Indigenous political leaders.
During her time in office, she championed policies involving paid family leave, universal school meals, child tax credits and protections for Indigenous communities.
She also helped establish Minnesota’s Office of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives, addressing an issue that has devastated Native families and communities.
As lieutenant governor, she pushed for stronger consultation between state government and Minnesota’s eleven tribal nations. The administration also worked with tribal leaders on land restoration, treaty interests and other matters affecting Indigenous sovereignty.
Her experience working with tribal governments will now follow her to the Senate.
And that is significant.
The United States Senate has a complicated history with Native nations. It is the chamber where treaties were ratified, federal obligations were debated and policies affecting Indigenous land and sovereignty were shaped.
MPR News points out the historical irony: the same institution that once voted to cancel Dakota treaties in 1863 will now have a Native American woman among its members.
Flanagan has said she wants the federal government to meet its treaty and trust obligations to tribal nations.
That is not simply a policy position. It is a conversation about history, responsibility and promises that remain unfinished.
SO, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE THE FIRST?
Flanagan’s victory brings a new kind of visibility to the Senate. But it also raises a question about how we define political progress.
For generations, Native women have led communities, defended families, preserved cultures and advocated for their nations. Their leadership did not begin on Election Day.
What changed on November 3 was that one of those women was elected to a national institution where Native women had never before held this distinction.
And perhaps the most beautiful part of her story is that she recognizes the collective effort behind the individual achievement.
There is a lesson here for anyone who has ever been encouraged by a mentor, supported by a community or reminded of their potential by someone who refused to let them underestimate themselves.
Sometimes the person who tells you to run for office is not looking for recognition. She is simply trying to make sure the next generation has a chance.
Peggy Flanagan is heading to Washington as a historic first. But the women who helped shape her journey are part of that victory, too.
And if we are going to celebrate the first woman through the door, perhaps we should also celebrate the women who built the road.
QUESTION OF THE DAY
Who is the woman who saw something in you before you saw it in yourself? A mother, teacher, mentor, auntie, friend or colleague? Did her encouragement change the direction of your life?
STAY IN THE MOOD
Never underestimate the power of a woman who opens a door for another woman. The greatest legacy may not be the seat you occupy, but the number of people who discover they belong in the room because you made it there.
