Kamala Harris and Tim Walz could clear path for first-ever Native American woman governor

Minnesota’s Peggy Flanagan could be the nation’s first Indigenous woman in a governor’s office

If Kamala Harris and her newly announced running mate Tim Walz win the race for the White House, the US could see the first-ever Native American woman serving as governor.

Under the succession plan laid out by the state’s constitution, Minnesota’s Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan would ascend to the governor’s office, if Harris-Walz defeats Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance in 2024.

Flanagan — a citizen of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe — would also become the state’s first-ever female governor.

She is already the highest-ranking Indigenous woman in statewide elected office, and is the first to lead the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association.

State senator Bobby Joe Champion would also ascend to the lieutenant governor’s office, becoming the state’s first Black lieutenant governor, according to the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library.

Before entering office in 2019, Flanagan served on the Minneapolis school board and ran the Children’s Defense Fund Minnesota.

As lieutenant governor, she established the country’s first Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office and helped pass state legislation to support free breakfast and lunch programs for public school students, among other programs designed to support low-income families and invest “in equity in bonding to support community projects led by and for people of color,” according to her office.

“I’ve been friends with Tim Walz for almost 20 years. And for more than five years, he’s been my partner in justice at the Minnesota Capitol,” Flanagan wrote on social media after the Harris campaign announced the governor as her running mate.

“He has the grit and the grace to keep our country moving forward alongside Kamala Harris,” she said.

Minnesota’s Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan could be the nation’s first ever Native American woman to ascent to a governor’s office if Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, win the 2024 presidential election (Getty Images for IllumiNative)

Asked about her possible history-making ascension to the state’s highest office, Flanagan told MinnPost.com last week that she has “been honored this entire time to serve the people of Minnesota.”

“That would not change,” she said.

A potential shakeup in Minnesota’s executive office would temporarily give state Republicans control of the state legislature until a special election is held to fill Champion’s seat.

The Minnesota state senate is currently deadlocked with an evenly split 33-33 makeup.

“Listen, I certainly haven’t thought about all of these things because I wouldn’t ever be presumptuous and think our governor is going to be selected,” Champion told MinnPost.com last week before Walz was selected as Harris’s running mate.

“But if Vice President Harris believes he is the right choice, then we’ll deal with all of those things in real time,” he said.