# Trump-Backed Michele Tafoya Loses Minnesota Senate Race to Peggy Flanagan, Who Vowed to 'Rip ICE Apart,' Fox News Reports

Fox says the win is a win for progressives but not a Republican loss of a held seat, since Minnesota was already blue. Flanagan ran against ICE after Operation Metro Surge; Tafoya ran on the state's daycare fraud scandal.

- Section: [Border & Security](https://rightnewsrightnow.com/border-security/)
- Published: 2026-11-04
- By: RightNewsRightNow Staff
- Canonical page: https://rightnewsrightnow.com/articles/flanagan-defeats-tafoya-minnesota-senate-rip-ice-apart-metro-surge-daycare-fraud-fox-news/

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, the Democratic nominee, has beaten former NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, the Republican nominee backed by President Trump, Fox News reports.

The result. Fox says the win stops Republican hopes of flipping the seat. It adds that this is not necessarily a loss for the GOP, because the seat was already held by Democrats.

The immigration fight. Fox ties the race to the Trump administration's crackdowns in Minnesota. It says the state and her former running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, were in the administration's sights over a multibillion-dollar daycare fraud scandal, and that several Somali immigrants were linked to it. ICE then moved into the state in what Fox calls Operation Metro Surge. Fox says two Minnesota residents, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, died at the hands of federal immigration agents, and that the operation fed into another government shutdown in Washington. Flanagan made it a rallying cry. After winning her primary, she said: "We need to rip ICE apart and stop them from terrorizing our communities." She also said she wants to "secure the border, and create a real pathway to citizenship."

The fraud argument. Tafoya built her campaign on the fraud scandal and on how much Flanagan knew as a top state official. "My opponent has been second in command in this state for eight years," she said at a debate last month, citing "historic fraud," lower test scores, rising crime and a surplus turned into a deficit. Flanagan put the blame on Walz, saying "he was the one who had oversight here."

Schumer. Fox says the win could cut both ways for Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. Flanagan, like other progressive candidates, has criticized him and argued that Democrats need new leadership. "People want big, bold change," she told The New York Times.

What we could not check. The accounts of Operation Metro Surge, the two deaths and the fraud scandal come from Fox's summary, and we have not reviewed the underlying records. Fox's article does not give the vote totals.

## Source

Original reporting: [Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-backed-ex-nfl-reporter-loses-senate-race-progressive-who-vowed-rip-ice-apart)