WASHINGTON – Rep. Angie Craig’s campaign raised about $1.2 million in the first three months of the year, vastly outpacing possible Democratic rivals for the seat of retiring Sen. Tina Smith.
The Democrat has not declared herself a candidate for what’s shaping up to be competitive primary and general election races for Smith’s seat. She has said she’ll make that decision later this month.
But Craig’s campaign, which raised nearly $8.3 million for her re-election to the 2nd Congressional District seat last year, is well positioned to take on Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Melisa López Franzen, another DFLer who has declared her candidacy for Smith’s seat.
According to the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission, Flanagan raised $451,135 for her bid for Smith’s seat and López Franzen, a former state senator, raised about $260,000 with the help of a $100,000 personal loan to her campaign in the three weeks after she declared her candidacy.
Many of Craig’s campaign contributions came from political action committees representing agricultural interests – including state farm organizations like the Texas Farm Bureau, the South Carolina Farm Bureau and the Ohio Farm Bureau. Craig is the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee.
She will be spending part of Congress’ spring break holding town halls in the districts of Republican Reps. Tom Emmer, Pete Stauber, Brad Finstad and Michelle Fischbach.
Craig’s GOP colleagues have headed the admonition of House Speaker Mike Johnson against holding in-person town halls because of the danger they may be attended by constituents who are angered at their support of President Donald Trump’s policies.
But Craig is not holding town halls in St. Cloud, Willmar, Mankato and Grand Rapids next week just to irritate her Republican colleagues. She will also have the opportunity to gauge support outside of her district from DFLers — some of whom have been angered by Craig’s support for several GOP initiatives — and reach out to independents and Republican-leaning rural voters who may appreciate Craig’s support for Minnesota agriculture.
Flanagan also plans to participate in a town hall next week organized by Practicing Democracy, a new political action committee whose co-founder is Jen Schultz, a Democrat who twice ran unsuccessfully against Stauber. The town hall will be held on Monday in Hinckley, which is in Stauber’s district.
Deported Salvadoran becomes cause célèbre
The nation’s capital was consumed this week with the ongoing saga of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran who lived in Maryland before he was deported to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, a move the Trump administration has called an “administrative error.”
Abrego Garcia, 29, had entered the United States illegally but was granted legal permission by a judge to stay.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 9-0 decision, ruled against a Trump administration appeal of a lower court’s order to bring Abrego Garcia back, saying, “The United States acknowledges that Abrego Garcia was subject to a withholding order forbidding his removal to El Salvador, and that the removal to El Salvador was therefore illegal.”
The Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return.
Despite the admission that Abrego Garcia was deported without cause and the Supreme Court’s order to return him to the United States, Trump and visiting El Salvador President Nayib Bukele say they can do nothing to bring him back.
Bukele is considered a right-wing authoritarian who has dismantled democratic institutions, curtailed political and civil liberties and attacked independent media and the political opposition.
In February, Bukele made a deal with the Trump administration to incarcerate deported immigrants and U.S. citizens convicted of a crime in a mega prison called the Terrorism Confinement Center, located outside the nation’s capital of San Salvador.
The Trump administration insists Abrego Garcia, who is married to an American citizen and is a father of three, is a member of the M-13 gang and a criminal, but has not provided any proof. Abrego Garcia’s wife and lawyers have denied he is part of a gang.
Democrats have decried Abrego Garcia’s deportation — and the Trump administration’s defiance of a court order — as proof that Trump is willing to trample on the U.S. Constitution and as a dangerous precedent that could mean the removal of U.S. citizens to a prison in El Salvador that is known for its use of torture.
“If they can ship Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a foreign prison — accused of no crime, with no trial — they can do it to anyone,” former Sen. Hillary Clinton posted on X. “Americans of good conscience must stand against this now.”
The case of the deported Salvadoran caught fire outside D.C., as well.
At a town hall in Fort Madison, Iowa, this week, Sen. Chuck Grassley was criticized for not taking stronger action to hold Trump accountable for ignoring a court order.
“El Salvador is an independent country,” Grassley said. “The president of that country is not subject to our U.S. Supreme Court.”
According to the New York Times, the crowd erupted in jeers.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador this week seeking Abrego Garcia’s return and was able to meet with him. But Bukele maintained his determination that Abrego Garcia would not be returned.
Meanwhile, Melisa López Franzen, a Democrat running for retiring Sen. Tina Smith’s seat, released a campaign video this week that criticized Trump’s immigration policy – and Abrego Garcia’s deportation.
“When a father is wrongly deported to a Salvadorean prison that has no regard for human rights, and our government refuses to bring him home, that is not who we are,” López Franzen says in a voiceover of images from that prison.
In case you missed it:
- State government reporter Matthew Blake attended a town hall in Lakeville where Rep. Angie Craig and DFL state lawmakers fielded questions about Trump administration policies.
- Deanna Pistono and I wrote about Trump administration cuts in health grants that will affect medical research and mental health and addiction services in Minnesota.
- We also shared an AP story about an Oronoco baby products business that fears heavy tariffs on China could shut it down.
- In our Community Voices section, a teacher takes a look at what he sees as the parallels between George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel “1984” and the Trump presidency.
Your questions and comments
A reader wrote in response to a story about congressional plans to make deep cuts in the Medicaid program, which provides health care for low-income people.
“If Republicans get their way, we may end up with care for the poor ending up being totally a state responsibility,” the reader wrote. “The reality is that compassionate and affluent states and metro areas could handle it, while red states would be very challenged. Red areas have more poverty and depend more on government programs … The smart thing would be to have universal care for children. Having parents arrange and pay for it doesn’t work. Even in Minnesota, that hasn’t happened. Great care for kids avoids very high costs later, but kids can’t vote on their interests.”
Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond. Please contact me at aradelat@minnpost.com.
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