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The Crucial Democratic Senatorial Primary in Minnesota [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-09-19

Here is the third in my reports on the Democratic primary contests that will help shape the Party for a generation.

For the Maine Senatorial Primary, see www.dailykos.com/…

For the Wisconsin Senatorial Primary, see www.dailykos.com/...

In my first report, I explained the rationale for these reports: the ominous disconnect between House and many Senate Democrats and the Democratic base on what all the major Israeli and Human Rights organizations have called the genocide perpetrated by the Netanyahu government in Israel on the Palestinian people, a government that is armed and funded by U.S. taxpayers.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Doctors without Borders, the Israeli HR groups B’tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, the UN Human Rights Commission, as well as the vast majority of genocide scholars have called it genocide. Call it what you will, those who fund and arm it are supporting it materially.

The images of Gazans now driven from their last homes, carrying belongings on their back or what they can put into a crowed truck, without adequate food, water, or medical care, with some dying on the path, to an already overcrowded “humanitarian zone,” as most of the buildings of Gaza are systematically destroyed, have destroyed Israel’s image as a sacrosanct nation. Verified evidence reported in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and the human rights group B’tselem that the IDF has been shelling and shooting Gazans as they race a gauntlet to get food has added to the horror.

Although 92% of Democrats oppose Israel’s actions in Gaza and 75% of Democrats and 60% of Independents support an arms embargo on Israel, a large part of our Senate and House caucuses continue to fund and arm Netanyahu, to the tune of $24 Billion taken from Americans who struggle to afford day care and medical care. This issue is no longer confined to progressives. If the disconnect between elected officials and the voting base is not corrected, the Democratic party risks depressing its own vote. On the bright side, the best way to win elections and to defeat the fascism enveloping this country is to select strong candidates who voice the concerns of the voters. news.gallup.com/… www.politico.com/… The Minnesota Senatorial Primary The race pits Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan against Representative Angie Craig for the seat held by retiring Senator Tina Smith. A description of the two candidates can be found here, The race pits Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan against Representative Angie Craig for the seat held by retiring Senator Tina Smith. A description of the two candidates can be found here, www.mprnews.org/ … I would love to hear the thoughts of Minnesotans on this primary!

Angie Craig is one of the most fervent supporters of the Netanyahu government in Congress. She has already received more than $325,000 dollars from AIPAC. www.opensecrets.org/...

To illustrate Craig’s zeal, she was one of only 20 House democrats to endorse a resolution condemning Palestinian-American Rashida Tlaib for her criticism of Israel. Craig condemned Tlaib for stating she opposed "unconditional funding to an apartheid government." CBS reported that

In defense of her vote [to censure Rep. Tlaib], Craig said that members of Congress need to choose their words carefully. "The censure is not a perfect tool, but I felt that I had to express my strong disagreement with my colleague after she defended her use of this phrase and continues to promote disinformation," Craig said. (emphasis mine). www.cbsnews.com/...

Anyone who looks at the West Bank, where Palestinians are allowed 1/5 the water as Jewish settlers, water taken from under Palestinian lands; where settlers and the IDF have driven non-Jews increasingly into isolated urban enclaves, where Palestinian villages are attacked every day with full impunity, will see that apartheid is no disinformation.

But at the same time Craig was attacking Tlaib for alleged disinformation, she endorsed a resolution that contained the patently false claim that Hamas had beheaded babies, 40 babies by some accounts (as if the Oct 7 attack weren’t brutal enough!). So much for the “need to choose words carefully.” The Craig-perpetuated lie was distributed by Netanyahu’s office and taken up by President Joe Biden, who repeated it several times and even claimed he had seen evidence of it. Israeli newspapers and outside investigators revealed that the 2 (not 40) infants who were killed on Oct 7 had succumbed to bullet wounds.

When Israel’s engineered famine in Gaza began yielding more starvation deaths each day this summer, Craig issued this statement:

x The humanitarian situation in Gaza is not acceptable. Children, families, innocent civilians, doctors and journalists are starving. Now, over 100 foreign aid groups have sounded the alarm, and the situation is only worsening.



I’m calling on the Israeli government and the Trump… — Angie Craig (@RepAngieCraig) July 25, 2025

Such statements by Craig and other Netanyahu supporters in Congress who vote to fund Netanyahu’s actions in Gaza genocide are empty virtue signalling. If Congress conditioned its support for Israel on Israel allowing the food and medical supplies into Gaza, Israel would do so. Everyone (include Craig) knows that when American politicians “call on” Israel to do something, it ignores them. (See the decades of US “calling on Israel” to halt settlement expansion on the West Bank for example).

The Israeli General Moshe Dayan, who became a media star in the 1960’s with his eye-patch, defined the US-Israel Relationship as follows:

“Our American friends send us aid and advice. We take the aid and ignore the advice.” When asked what Israel would do if America said you can only have the aid if you take the advice, Dayan replied, “We would have to take the advice.”

Peggy Flanagan has not been funded by AIPAC. www.opensecrets.org/… She has also renounced all corporate contributions.

She hasn’t yet disclosed her position on unconditioned funding and army of Israel, but she will face the question in the coming months. The debates should be barnburners. Flanagan has good name recognition and is backed by Elizabeth Warren and former Senator Al Franken. What little polling there has been shows the race is competitive.

One thing is sure. A Craig victory would damage Democrats as the Party struggles to break the grip AIPAC has on it and appeals for the votes of the large percentage of Democrats and Independents who abhor American complicity in the destruction of Palestinians.

There is a lot of what I call “AIPAC fatalism,” the notion that our elected officials and candidates are either bought by AIPAC or so intimidated by it that any change is impossible. That fatalism is depressing our vote, driving some out of the party, and driving others out of participating in elections altogether. The defeat of AIPAC candidates like Angie Craig would go a long way toward dispelling that fatalism.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/9/19/2344435/-The-Crucial-Democratic-Senatorial-Primary-in-Minnesota?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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