ST. PAUL, Minn. — Republican Michele Tafoya sought to establish her independence from President Donald Trump, while Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan faced questions about party loyalty and her responsibility for Minnesota’s fraud crisis during their first and only scheduled U.S. Senate debate Friday.

The debate came just days after Trump encouraged Minnesotans to vote for Tafoya. Flanagan used the event to cast the former sportscaster as someone who would be a rubber stamp for the president’s agenda.

“Let’s be clear: Donald Trump doesn’t just endorse anybody. In fact, he endorses against people in his own party if they dare to take him on,” Flanagan said. “Michele Tafoya passed his litmus test with flying colors.”

But Tafoya used the debate to highlight where she would break from her party and Trump, including on the Iran war. She also sought to turn the tables on Flanagan’s critique.

“I would challenge my opponent to tell us where and when she has ever parted with her own party, with the far left flank of her party, on any issue,” Tafoya said.

Tafoya kept a distance from Trump throughout the debate and declined to say whether she wanted his endorsement or would campaign alongside him in Minnesota.

“My campaign is about including people from all along the political spectrum,” she said. “I invite Trump voters. I invite Kamala Harris voters.”

Flanagan similarly declined to say whether she wanted Gov. Tim Walz to campaign with her as Republicans made his administration’s fraud crisis a central attack.

Tafoya made other noteworthy breaks from Trump and her party. While she did not say if she would vote to impeach Trump’s Defense Secretary and fellow Minnesotan Pete Hegseth, she said she would give him an “incomplete” grade. Flanagan said she would grade Hegseth an “F” and would vote to impeach him.

Tafoya also said she disagreed with Trump’s diesel purchase agreement with Russia.

Questions over whether she should accept responsibility for the state’s fraud crisis have followed Flanagan throughout the Democratic primary and have become a key attack from Republicans.

Flanagan has denounced the fraud and repeatedly avoided saying if she thinks she should take responsibility for the issue. She gave a similar response on Friday.

“[The governor] was the one who had oversight here. I’ve led on issues like paid family and medical leave, a nation-leading child tax credit, making sure that kids get breakfast and lunch at school,” Flanagan said.

Flanagan’s lukewarm response became a main line of attack from Tafoya.

“She was second in charge in this state, and she’s just going to point her finger at Governor Tim Walz when she demanded it be the Walz-Flanagan administration,” Tafoya said.

Flanagan reaffirmed her opposition to the war in Iran, while Tafoya broke with Trump by pledging to vote to end it if elected to the Senate and the conflict continues into January.

“There have been some goals that have been achieved and Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. But we cannot give this president a blank check to continue to conduct this war,” Tafoya said.

Flanagan said she would not support any additional funding for the war.

Tafoya also criticized the rollout of Operation Metro Surge and said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was “appropriately fired.”

But she accused Flanagan and Walz of preventing local law enforcement from protecting protesters, immigrants and the public during the crackdown.

Flanagan’s opposition to Operation Metro Surge was something that helped propel her in the Democratic primary. She used the debate to charge that Tafoya had changed her position on the surge.

“The reason Kristi Noem was fired is because the people of Minnesota stood up for our neighbors,” Flanagan said.

Flanagan criticized Trump’s tariffs as a burden on Minnesota farmers, while Tafoya defended them as a short-term tool to bring trading partners to the negotiating table.

Flanagan expressed support for steel tariffs to protect Minnesota industry but took aim at Trump’s broader approach. “Let’s be real what they are,” she said. “They are a tax on Minnesotans.”

Tafoya said long-term tariffs are not the goal, arguing that farmers and businesses need fairer trading conditions. They “want a level playing field,” she said. “That’s what they’re asking for. They haven’t had it.”

Tafoya defended her description of herself as a “pro-choice Republican” during Friday’s debate. Asked whether she would support a cutoff for abortion access after a certain number of weeks, Tafoya said the issue is settled law in Minnesota and noted she has taken criticism from her own party for supporting some abortion access.

Flanagan accused Tafoya of presenting “two different versions” of herself: one courting Republican delegates with promises to support conservative judicial nominees, the other calling herself pro-choice.

Tafoya countered that Flanagan never breaks with Democrats and challenged her to name an instance when she had.

Flanagan pointed to her work with Republicans at the Children’s Defense Fund, saying it had drawn criticism from Democrats.

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(Briana Bierschbach and Walker Orenstein of The Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.)

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