Peggy Flanagan, Michele Tafoya debate ahead of Minnesota U.S. Senate election

Watch the full debate using the video player above.

The major party candidates for Minnesota’s U.S. Senate seat faced off in an hourlong debate Friday on MPR News with fraud, affordability and fallout from the Trump administration’s policies as key points of friction.

It’s likely the only time Democratic nominee Peggy Flanagan and Republican nominee Michele Tafoya will appear on the same stage ahead of the election. And their interactions often pivoted to two other officials not slated to be on the ballot — President Donald Trump and Gov. Tim Walz.

The debate comes days after Trump endorsed Tafoya in the contest. Meanwhile, in campaign ads and news events, Tafoya has sought to distance herself from Trump and brand herself as an “independent thinker’ prepared to break with her party. Flanagan frequently highlighted that endorsement and argued her opponent would be a “rubber stamp” for the president.

Tafoya, meanwhile, repeatedly called out the fact that Flanagan was second in command in state government as reports of hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud in state programs came to light.

Flanagan said Tafoya was trying to reinvent herself in the closing weeks of the campaign.

“Let’s be clear: Donald Trump doesn’t just endorse anybody,” Flanagan said. “He endorses against people in his own party if they dare to take him on, Michele Tafoya passed his litmus test with flying colors. She supports the tariffs, the trade wars, the war in Iran.”

Tafoya said that Flanagan was the one running from her record on fraud.

“Talk about changing tacks when it becomes politically expedient,” Tafoya said. “My goodness, she was second in charge in this state, and she’s just going to point her finger at Gov. Tim Walz when she demanded it be the Walz-Flanagan administration, when she demanded to be in the room where everything happened, but suddenly she has nothing to do with this.”

Flanagan said Walz said he would take the buck for addressing fraud and that she was more involved in moving other DFL priorities like paid family and medical leave and free school lunches.

The candidates also spelled out policy platforms when it came to their views on foreign policy, Social Security, taxes and immigration policy. The two, along with Libertarian candidate Rebecca Whiting, independent candidate Marisa Simonetti and write-in candidate Alycia Gruenhagen are vying to fill the seat set to come open when U.S. Sen. Tina Smith retires.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.