Minnesota Democrat U.S. Senate nominee and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan falsely claimed she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and her official state biography suggests she completed two majors when she only earned one — yet another Democrat fabricating credentials while the press looks the other way.
The Wall Street Journal reported October 21 that Flanagan made the Phi Beta Kappa claim during a March 2016 Minnesota House hearing on teacher diversity legislation. "I graduated Phi Beta Kappa because I saw myself reflected in my teacher and I saw myself reflected in my curriculum," Flanagan said, explaining how her academic performance improved after graduating high school with a 1.75 GPA.
She wasn't. A commencement program from Flanagan's 2002 University of Minnesota graduating class did not list her as an honors student. The university's GPA threshold for Phi Beta Kappa membership is 3.65. When the Journal contacted her campaign October 12 seeking documentation and offering to let Phi Beta Kappa headquarters release membership records with her permission, the campaign took eight days before admitting the truth.
"The lieutenant governor was nominated for Phi Beta Kappa, but like too many other students, she couldn't afford the application fees to become a part of the honor society," campaign spokeswoman Alexandra Fetissoff told the Journal. The current lifetime membership fee at the University of Minnesota is $99 — and was likely lower when Flanagan attended more than two decades ago. Many chapters also waive fees for students facing financial hardship, according to the Journal.
The Journal also found Flanagan's official state biography states she "earned her bachelor's degree in American Indian studies and child psychology" — language clearly implying a double major. Her College of Liberal Arts commencement program listed child psychology as her major. The campaign acknowledged she earned a minor, not a second major, in American Indian studies.
HotAir noted that former NBC Sports reporter Michele Tafoya confronted Flanagan over fraud allegations during a heated Senate debate, while Breitbart previously reported that a 2019 state audit identified more than $29 million in Medicaid overpayments to the White Earth Nation — Flanagan's tribe.
The pattern is familiar: a Democrat candidate misrepresents her credentials, gets caught, offers a convenient excuse, and the establishment press shrugs. Breitbart framed the story as a straightforward fabrication; HotAir buried the Flanagan credential revelations inside a broader segment on Ilhan Omar's federal search and Minnesota's shifting political landscape. When Republicans face resume discrepancies, the same outlets run wall-to-wall coverage. The question isn't whether Flanagan lied — she did. The question is why it takes the Wall Street Journal to force the admission, and whether Minnesota voters will be allowed to hear about it.
