Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) announced Tuesday that she is running for Sen. Tina Smith’s (D-MN) seat upon her retirement.
Smith will have served a little over a term. In 2018, she replaced former Sen. Al Franken, who resigned that year over allegations of sexual misconduct. Then-Gov. Mark Dayton (D-MN) appointed Smith, who was his lieutenant governor. She announced in February that she would not be seeking reelection.
“I’m Angie Craig. I’ve had to fight my whole life, and damn if we don’t have a fight on our hands right now,” Craig says in her campaign video, which features headlines on President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk. “There’s chaos and corruption coming out of Washington crashing down on all of us every day, an out-of-control unelected billionaire trying to take over our government and burn it to the ground, a president trampling our rights and freedoms as he profits for personal gain, and a cowardly Republican Party rolling over and letting it all happen.”
Craig was the first openly lesbian woman to win a House district in Minnesota. She would also be the first lesbian representing Minnesota in the Senate. She has four children with her wife.
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The Minnesota representative has often broken ranks with her party, like when she called for then-President Joe Biden to end his reelection campaign in July or when she challenged Rep. David Scott (D-GA) for his position as ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee.
Craig has been in the House since her win against incumbent Republican Jason Lewis in 2018. She won in November with 55% of the vote.