Kamala Harris picking Tim Walz could pave way for first Native American female governor

(WASHINGTON) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was tapped as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate on Tuesday — a choice that could potentially usher in a historic first.

If Harris and Walz win, prompting Walz to resign as governor, Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan would take over the position, according to Minnesota’s constitution — and would become the first Native American woman to ever serve as a state governor.

She would also be the first woman to serve as governor of Minnesota in the state’s history.

Flanagan, 44, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, is “currently the country’s highest ranking Native woman elected to executive office,” according to a biography on her office’s website. She was first elected to the lieutenant governorship in 2018.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Flanagan celebrated the news Walz had been selected as the vice presidential nominee.

“I’ve been friends with Tim Walz for almost 20 years. And for more than five years, he’s been my partner in justice at the Minnesota Capitol,” she wrote. “He has the grit and the grace to keep our country moving forward alongside Kamala Harris.”

As lieutenant governor, Flanagan worked with Walz and other members of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party to pass a laundry list of progressive legislation — including free school breakfasts and lunches, paid family and medical leave, legalizing marijuana, codifying abortion access and enacting stricter firearms laws — in what Walz called “the most productive session in Minnesota history,” according to the Star Tribune.

She also created the the country’s first Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office, co-chairs Minnesota’s Young Women’s Initiative and chairs the Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Flanagan was first elected to the Minneapolis Board of Education in 2004. An experienced organizer, she spent nearly a decade training progressive candidates on how to effectively run for public office — among those candidates was Walz himself.

She also served as executive director of the Minnesota branch of youth advocacy nonprofit Children’s Defense Fund, during which time she successfully campaigned to raise the statewide minimum wage.

Flanagan went on to serve in the Minnesota House of Representatives, where she led the Subcommittee on Child Care Access and Affordability and cofounded the state’s first People of Color and Indigenous Caucus.

Born and raised by a single mother in St. Louis Park, Flanagan still lives in the Minnesota city with her husband Tom, daughter Siobhan and dog, Reuben.

There have been two Native American men elected to be governor — Johnston Murray and Kevin Stitt, both in Oklahoma. Stitt is the current governor of Oklahoma.

In an interview with The 19th, Flanagan previously reflected on what her heritage meant to her as a public servant.

“I couldn’t have ever imagined being able to see elected leaders who look like me. And for my daughter, this is simply her reality,” she said. “That is how we build a strong organization. That is how we build a strong party.”