Peggy Flanagan

Peggy Flanagan has lived most of her life in St. Louis Park, and was elected Lt. Governor along with Governor Tim Walz, in 2018.

 

From her 2018 campaign bio:

Peggy Flanagan, is a longtime advocate for Minnesota’s children and families, a DFLer, an organizer, and a near-lifelong resident of St. Louis Park.

Peggy has served in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2015 representing the communities of St. Louis Park, Golden Valley, Plymouth and Medicine Lake.

Peggy moved to St. Louis Park as a baby with her mom, because her mom rightly saw that the community offered her daughter the opportunity to get a great public education, to be part of a caring community, and to thrive. Peggy is proud to be a graduate of St. Louis Park Public Schools and the University of Minnesota, graduating in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in American Indian studies and child psychology.

The principle of Peggy’s professional, political and personal life is giving back, particularly to children, families, communities of color, American Indians and low-income and working people. A noted community and political organizer, Peggy is a partner with The Management Center, an organization dedicated to helping leaders working for social change. She formerly served as the executive director of Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota (CDF), a non-profit child-advocacy organization working to level the playing field for all children in our region and state. While at CDF, Peggy co-chaired the Raise The Wage campaign, the successful fight to raise Minnesota’s minimum wage for the first time in nearly a decade.

Before joining Children’s Defense Fund, Peggy also worked for almost a decade at Wellstone Action, the organization founded to carry on the work of the late Senator Paul Wellstone, first as director and founder of the Native American Leadership Program, then as director of external affairs. As one of the original trainers of Wellstone Action’s signature program Camp Wellstone, she has trained tens of thousands of progressive activists, community and campaign organizers, future candidates – including Tim! – and progressive officeholders to make effective, sustainable, progressive change around the country.

Since her election in 2015, Peggy has continued building coalitions and working on behalf of children and families. Peggy serves as the DFL lead on the Subcommittee on Child Care Access and Affordability. She also serves on Health and Human Services Policy, State Government Finance and Rules committees. During the 2017 session she joined with other DFL legislators to form the POCI (People of Color and Indigenous) caucus. The caucus aims to improve the education, health and economic opportunities of people of color and indigenous communities across the state.

Peggy serves on the board of directors of Native Progress, Sojourners, and the Minneapolis Foundation.

A citizen of the White Earth Nation of Ojibwe, Peggy lives in the Bronx Park neighborhood of St. Louis Park with her 4-year-old daughter Siobhan, an aspiring teacher, doctor, and princess and far-too-energetic dog Reuben.