DLGA Launches $2 Million Ad Against Angie Craig
The Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association launched a $2 million ad campaign against angie craig over her votes on immigration enforcement, putting that issue at the center of Minnesota’s Senate primary. The 30-second spot is aimed at Craig as she runs against Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan for Tina Smith’s seat.
Angie Craig and the Laken Riley Act
The ad attacks Craig for supporting the Laken Riley Act and for votes on immigration enforcement during President Donald Trump’s second term. Craig wrote in early March that she regretted that vote, saying, "It is true that the president is not using any laws to carry out these sweeping immigration raids that have terrorized Minnesotans, but it’s also become clear that supporting any bill that gives ICE new authority in this administration was the wrong decision,"
Kevin Holst, the DLGA executive director, said, "This is a defining primary, because we have seen across the country voters are so sick of people who go to D.C. and go along to get along. And they’re looking for experienced people who are morally centered and grounded in the work that they’re doing." He also described the group as "trying to be a leader in electing the right kinds of Democrats" as it stepped into a race that will help decide the party’s nominee.
Mary Granlund Narrates Ad
Mary Granlund, a local school board member, narrated the ad. She said, "I was there. There were armed agents, masks on, guns. He’s not a criminal. He’s five." Granlund added, "I begged them to stop. They locked him up in a Texas detention center. Who takes a child?"
She also said, "helped ICE do it. She voted to give ICE the power to abduct and indefinitely detain parents and kids like Liam. And then she voted to thank them. How could we possibly trust Angie Craig?" Granlund said she was present when Liam Ramos was detained and taken to a Texas detention center.
Minnesota Senate Primary
Craig, a moderate lawmaker who flipped a Republican-held district in 2018, has already moved against federal immigration policy in other ways. After the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota known as Operation Metro Surge, she introduced articles of impeachment against then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and announced legislation to strip new funding ICE received in the GOP’s tax cut and spending measure known as Trump’s big beautiful bill.
The campaign lands before the state Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s convention at the end of May, where it is expected to endorse a candidate. The primary is scheduled for Aug. 11, and the outside spending signals that immigration enforcement is now a central line of attack in the race between Craig and Flanagan.
