Michele Tafoya, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Minnesota, is facing renewed scrutiny over comments she made about the state after denying that she had ever said she was embarrassed to be from Minnesota.
CNN’s KFile reported Wednesday that it found a deleted social-media post from March 2023 in which Tafoya wrote that she was “embarrassed to say I live in Minnesota,” while criticizing the state’s political direction. The post was later deleted.
The discovery comes as Tafoya prepares for the November general election against Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor nominee.
Tafoya denied making the statement
Earlier this month, Tafoya was asked during a Minnesota public television interview whether she was embarrassed to be from the state.
“No, I’m not. I wouldn’t be running if I were,” Tafoya said, according to a transcript of the program.
CNN’s KFile subsequently reported that Tafoya had made the more pointed statement about being embarrassed to live in Minnesota three years earlier.
According to the CNN report, Tafoya’s March 2023 post criticized Minnesota as having moved too far to the political left. After another social-media user suggested that she leave the state, Tafoya replied that doing so was her plan and said she was considering moving to Tennessee. CNN KFile report on Michele Tafoya’s Minnesota comments
The 2023 remarks are now being examined in the context of Tafoya’s Senate campaign, in which she has criticized Minnesota’s political leadership as a central part of her message.
Tafoya has continued criticizing Minnesota’s direction
Tafoya has not presented her current position as opposition to Minnesota itself. Her campaign website says she loves the state and argues that corruption and fraud scandals have damaged its reputation. The campaign says she wants to restore what it describes as Minnesota’s standing and emphasizes accountability, fiscal responsibility, border security and law enforcement.
In August, shortly after winning the Republican Senate primary, Tafoya told MPR News that she had spoken with Minnesotans who believed the state had gone in the wrong direction.
She described Minnesota as having become “an embarrassment nationally,” while also saying she had built her career and family life there and did not want to leave the state to its problems.
That distinction is central to the dispute over the older comments: Tafoya has continued to argue that her criticism is directed at Minnesota’s political leadership and policies rather than at the state or its residents.
In another August interview, she said she had spoken with hundreds of Minnesota voters who told her they were reluctant to tell people on vacation where they were from “because it’s embarrassing.” Tafoya said she agreed with that sentiment.
A new issue for the Senate campaign
Tafoya won the Republican nomination in August and will face Flanagan in the Nov. 3 general election. The race is for the Senate seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Tina Smith.
The dispute over Tafoya’s earlier comments is therefore emerging as part of a broader campaign argument over her relationship with Minnesota.
Democrats have already used her comments about the state in campaign messaging. The Minnesota DFL has pointed to statements in which Tafoya criticized Minnesota as a “national embarrassment” and accused her of speaking negatively about the state she now seeks to represent.
The Flanagan campaign has likewise highlighted the controversy in its own messaging. Because those statements come from an opposing political campaign, they are campaign claims rather than independent findings.
Tafoya’s campaign, meanwhile, has continued to frame her criticism around fraud, government accountability, taxes, public safety and other policy issues.
The broader Minnesota race
The Senate contest has drawn national attention as Republicans try to compete in a state where Democrats have held the Senate seat for years.
The Republican campaign has focused heavily on government fraud and allegations of misuse of public funds. Tafoya has repeatedly cited the Feeding Our Future scandal and other cases as evidence that state government failed to protect taxpayer money. AP reported in August that fraud involving hundreds of millions of dollars in Minnesota social-service programs had become a major issue in the Republican campaign.
Democrats, including Flanagan, have acknowledged the seriousness of fraud while pointing to investigations, prosecutions and new oversight efforts. In an August CNN interview, Flanagan said fraud was unacceptable and cited the creation of an independent inspector general’s office and additional resources for combating Medicaid fraud.
The election will also put the two candidates’ approaches to federal and state policy under scrutiny as the campaign moves toward November.
As of Sept. 23, the immediate dispute concerns a specific question: whether Tafoya’s past statement that she was embarrassed to say she lived in Minnesota conflicts with her more recent denial that she had ever made such a statement.
The CNN KFile report provides evidence of the earlier social-media post. Tafoya’s later public comments show that she now describes herself as committed to Minnesota and says she is running to represent its residents.
The two sets of statements are part of the public record as the Senate campaign continues.
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