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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s role as Kamala Harris’ running mate has the potential to create another barrier-breaking moment: If the Democratic presidential ticket wins the election and is inaugurated in January — or if Walz steps down to campaign — Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan will take  his place, becoming the country’s first Native American woman to serve as a state governor. 

Flanagan, who is a citizen of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, is already the highest-ranking Indigenous woman serving in a statewide elected office and the first to lead the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association. 

During her tenure, Flanagan, who was previously executive director of the Children’s Defense Fund Minnesota, worked to pass legislation on child tax credits and free breakfast and lunch programs for public school students, and to establish the country’s first Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office to support families in their search for missing loved ones.

Flanagan co-chairs the Young Women’s Initiative of Minnesota, which created a Young Woman’s Cabinet to train members in leadership and as policy advocates. 

Flanagan previously told The 19th that as the mother of a young Ojibwe girl, the importance of representation in our democracy is personal: “I couldn’t have ever imagined being able to see elected leaders who look like me. And for my daughter, this is simply her reality,” she said. When young people see themselves reflected in these roles, she said, “That is how we build a strong organization. That is how we build a strong party.”