Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan (D-MN) has admitted to inflating parts of her academic record, including her membership in a prestigious academic honor society and the status of her American Indian Studies degree.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Flanagan claimed she “graduated Phi Beta Kappa” while serving in the Minnesota House and advocating for greater teacher diversity in public schools.
“Everything changed, there was a switch, something clicked,” Flanagan said during a legislative hearing in 2016. “I graduated Phi Beta Kappa because I saw myself reflected in my teacher and I saw myself reflected in my curriculum.”
The outlet asked Flanagan’s campaign to "provide information proving her membership in what is often called the nation’s oldest and the most exclusive honor society" and said Phi Beta Kappa’s headquarters "would release any membership records that might exist with her permission."
Days later, perhaps realizing she'd been caught embellishing, her campaign acknowledged she never belonged to Phi Beta Kappa.
Eight days later, her campaign acknowledged she never belonged to Phi Beta Kappa.
— John McCormick (@McCormickJohn) October 21, 2026
The Journal also points out that official state biographies describe her as earning a bachelor’s degree in American Indian studies and child psychology from the University of Minnesota in 2002.
The statement leaves little doubt: "She earned her bachelor’s degree in American Indian studies and child psychology in 2002 from the University of Minnesota."
During a 2015 forum with the Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota, Tim Walz's future Lt. Gov. reiterated the claim.
Flanagan has clearly implied she studied both subjects, most likely as a double major or a dual-degree program resulting in a single bachelor's degree (or two separate degrees) covering both fields.
Instead, the Wall Street Journal reports that her campaign also acknowledged that she did not complete a double major. American Indian Studies was reportedly a minor.
Is that a big deal? Well, it’s a legitimate factual discrepancy worth noting, especially when you consider the fabricated Phi Beta Kappa claim and the overall context that Flanagan relies heavily on Native American identity as a political asset. We mean heavily. Unlike Elizabeth Warren, her claims seem legitimate.
Flanagan has openly bragged to anyone who will listen that she is “the first Native American woman to chair a national party committee in history," telling voters that her name means "speaks in a loud and clear voice woman" in Ojibwe.
She also bragged on her campaign website about being a member of the White Earth Nation.
An emphasis on her Native American ties has been central to Flanagan’s political brand ever since she first ran for public office two years after graduating from college when she sold herself in 2004 as potentially the first Native American member of the Minneapolis School Board.
— John McCormick (@McCormickJohn) October 21, 2026
Harboring such a laser focus on identity politics, you'd think making the American Indian Studies degree program the actual major instead of child psychology would have been a no-brainer.
Universities should start offering majors in Democrat psychology.