Minnesota fraud scandal will haunt Flanagan in high-stakes Senate race, top House Republican warns
The welfare fraud scandal that rocked Minnesota's state government late last year will now be a central issue in the race for its open Senate seat, the top Minnesotan in Congress said.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., is predicting that the rampant fraud that occurred under Gov. Tim Walz's administration will now sandbag the campaign of his top deputy, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who won the Democratic nomination on Tuesday night.
"I think fraud is going to be the theme all the way through. Peggy Flanagan was there every step of the way," Emmer told Fox News Digital. "She is going be tainted by Tim Walz's disgusting reputation."
PEGGY FLANAGAN WAS MINNESOTA'S NO 2 OFFICIAL AS MASSIVE FRAUD SCANDAL EXPLODED UNDER STATE'S WATCH
He argued that both Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison would be a "weight" on Flanagan's candidacy.
Fraudsters managed to swindle Minnesota's state welfare programs out of millions of dollars' worth of taxpayer funds dating back to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It kicked off with the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, whose leaders submitted falsified data to the state government while claiming to be working with schools, restaurants and caterers to feed Minnesota students.
The state government flagged suspicions to the FBI in 2021. Since then, roughly 80 defendants, including founder Aimee Bock, have been indicted. Bock was sentenced to 500 months in prison earlier this year for a scheme that prosecutors say affected some $250 million in taxpayer funds.
MINNESOTA MAN MARKS FBI'S FIRST ARREST FROM DOJ'S 'MOST WANTED FRAUDSTERS' LIST
Since then, federal officials have claimed that programs, including those that deal with childcare, helping children with autism and low-income housing, have been subject to fraudulent waste of taxpayer dollars.
Federal officials accused state Democrats of not doing enough to weed out fraud. But Walz and Ellison have both accused Republicans of overrepresenting the size of the scandal as a political attack, though the scrutiny forced Walz to drop his re-election bid for another term as governor.
The topic came up in a recent debate between Flanagan and her primary opponent, moderate Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn. Craig argued Flanagan's role in state government at the time would make her vulnerable to attacks.
"The lieutenant governor, even as we sit here today, continues to take absolutely no accountability for any of the fraud issues, and she continues to blame the governor," Craig said, according to MPR News. "And I'm going to be honest: It's pissing me off."
And Emmer — unsurprisingly as one of Walz's biggest critics — agreed.
"Fraud, incompetence and corruption — that is what the Walz administration has been known for. And she's been front and center in the Walz administration," Emmer said. "She is right in the center of one of the biggest fraud scandals in America, right here in Minnesota."
The House majority whip also accused Flanagan of embracing far-left policy positions that are further left than most Minnesotans.
"She's a Marxist communist nut bag from Minneapolis," Emmer said. "There is a treasure trove of wackadoodle, just out-of-touch statements, which we don't have to get into today, but you're going to see those be resurrected."
Flanagan is running against Republican Michele Tafoya, a former sports broadcaster.
Fox News Digital reached out to Flanagan's campaign for comment.