If Kamala Harris is elected president alongside Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, who has been chosen as her running mate, the state’s lieutenant governor would get a history-making promotion.
Under the succession plan laid out in Minnesota’s Constitution, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, 44, would become the state’s first female governor, as well as the first Native American person to assume the role.
Ms. Flanagan, who was first elected to her current post in 2018, served on the Minneapolis school board from 2005 to 2009 and spent years training liberals who wanted to run for office. Among the rookie politicians she mentored was Mr. Walz, a former social studies teacher from the small city of Mankato, who got his start in politics in 2006 after winning a congressional seat in a largely rural, conservative district.
Ms. Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, has championed improving relations between state government and leaders of the 11 tribal nations in the state.
A native of St. Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis, Ms. Flanagan was a vocal critic of Minnesota’s old flag, which was retired this year. She argued that the flag’s depiction of a Native American man and a settler was racist.
In recent days, as it became apparent that her boss was being vetted as a vice-presidential candidate, Ms. Flanagan made clear she was rooting for him — and happy to serve out the remainder of his term, which ends in 2027.
“I think Governor Walz would be honored to be selected to be the vice president, and I have been honored this entire time to serve the people of Minnesota,” she told the local news site Minn Post. “That would not change.”
If she becomes governor, Bobby Joe Champion, president of the State Senate, would become lieutenant governor. Mr. Champion would be the first Black person to serve in that role.
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
