WASHINGTON — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday endorsed Minnesota Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan for Senate, making her first congressional endorsement in 2026 and taking a swing at President Donald Trump in the process.

“Donald Trump has made it harder for families to afford childcare, groceries, and health care for their kids. His tariffs and war in Iran are driving up prices, and his budget ripped health care and food assistance away from children so billionaires could get another tax cut,” Clinton said in a statement, first obtained by HuffPost.

“Peggy Flanagan has spent her career fighting for children and families, from the Children’s Defense Fund to the Lieutenant Governor’s office, and she’s delivered for them,” she said. “I know she’ll be that same champion in the Senate, and I’m proud to endorse her.”

Clinton, a former U.S. senator from New York and the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee against Trump, began her career as an advocate at the Children’s Defense Fund. Flanagan, too, is a CDF alum, as the former executive director of the organization’s Minnesota chapter.

“Long before she was First Lady, Senator, or Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton was knocking on doors for the Children’s Defense Fund, making the case that every child in this country deserves a fair shot. That same work shaped me,” Flanagan said in a statement. “Secretary Clinton has spent five decades fighting for those families, and I’m honored to have her support as we take that fight to the United States Senate.”

The Minnesota Democrat has been narrowly leading in the polls against Republican Michele Tafoya, a former sideline reporter for “Monday Night Football” who became a conservative media personality. Flanagan benefits from her state being pretty reliably blue. Voters here went for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris by more than 4 percentage points over Trump in 2024, and they haven’t elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 20 years.

Like Democrats nationally, she also benefits from the president’s approval rating being at an all-time low, with voters saying they are deeply unhappy with the economy, with Trump’s ongoing war with Iran and with corruption in the U.S. government.

Flanagan, a progressive, now boasts the endorsement of both Clinton and her 2016 presidential primary rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report, which closely tracks and rates the political leanings of House and Senate races, rates this seat “likely Democrat” and suggests this race isn’t as close as it might look in polling. It notes Flanagan got a late start to spending in the general election after an ugly Democratic primary against Rep. Angie Craig and that voters here have been uniquely shaped by the hell they endured earlier this year amid the Trump administration’s brutal immigration enforcement tactics that left two Americans dead.

“Given the economy and the state’s ICE raids, this is a difficult climate to try to make a major play in a state Kamala Harris won,” reads Cook’s August analysis of this race.

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