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Republican Senate candidate Michele Tafoya schooled Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in a debate Friday for passing the buck on the fraud scandals that have overtaken her state in recent years.
Asked whether she had “any ownership over the fraud that occurred over the last two terms of this administration,” Flanagan, a Democrat, responded, “The governor’s been very clear that the buck stops with him. He was the one who had oversight here.”
Flanagan then mentioned her role in overseeing school meals. “Those are the things and those are the areas where I took the lead,” she said.
But the school lunch was one of the welfare programs that scammers in the state targeted, ultimately bilking taxpayers out of $250 million in COVID-era funds, as part of a scheme that originated from a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future.
In December 2025, then-US Attorney Joe Thompson claimed as much as $9 billion in taxpayer funds may have been pilfered from state coffers since 2018 — the same year Democrat Tim Walz was first elected Minnesota governor.
“They didn’t get lunch from Feeding Your Future,” Tafoya shot back. “Listen, I am going to Washington to be an equal opportunity pain in the ass to any corrupt, career politician.”
“I don’t care which side of the aisle they’re on or which office they hold,” the ex-NFL sideline reporter added. “Only one of us let $9 billion walk out the door to fraud.”
Tafoya slammed her opponent for letting it happen under her watch as “second in charge” in the state.
“She was second in charge in this state, and she’s just going to point her finger at Gov. Tim Walz, when she demanded it be the Walz-Flanagan administration, when she demanded to be in the room where everything happened,” she continued.
“But suddenly she has nothing to with this? My goodness sell it to someone else.”
The GOP challenger leveled the charge in their first and only scheduled debate this cycle.
Earlier, Flanagan said she was “angry too” about the abuse of taxpayer funds. “The governor said that more should have been done and more should have been done sooner,’ she added. “And I agree with him.”
Minnesota U.S. Sen. candidates spar over fraud scandals that plagued Minnesota:
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 16, 2026
Flanagan (D): "The governor's been very clear that the buck stops with him."
Tafoya (R): "Peggy, Donald Trump isn't on the ballot… And only one of us let $9 billion walk out the door to fraud." pic.twitter.com/nCXMThSouj
Flanagan is currently leading Tafoya by 2.6 percentage points in the race, according to the RealClearPolitics polling aggregator.
Tafoya was a veteran sideline reporter for several networks including NBC Sports’ “Sunday Night Football,” before announcing her Senate run in January.
Flanagan has served as Walz’s lieutenant governor since January 2019.