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When Minnesota became the epicenter of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, it changed the race for the state's open Senate seat. In the Democratic Party, it's another matchup between a progressive candidate and a more moderate opponent. But this one is shaping up to be less about affordability and more about immigration, as Minnesota Public Radio's Clay Masters reports.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Now we can have a line with two sides.
CLAY MASTERS, BYLINE: About 50 volunteers for Congresswoman Angie Craig's Senate primary campaign gather at a backyard barbecue on Saturday afternoon. They're eating burgers and hot dogs before knocking doors in the Twin City suburb of Brooklyn Park.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Ooh.
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MASTERS: Craig shows up, and someone hands her a beer.
ANGIE CRAIG: Oh, my goodness. Well, I've been waiting all cycle to say this...
MASTERS: She takes a sip.
CRAIG: ...Hold my beer.
MASTERS: Craig gives a fiery speech about pushing back against the Trump administration and how she continues to win the state's most competitive congressional seat.
CRAIG: Nobody thought a Democrat could win the 2nd District. And to be fair, nobody thought a lesbian mother of four could win the 2nd District. But we came running.
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MASTERS: Craig's electability is one of the pitches volunteer Jerry Gale makes on voters' doorsteps.
JERRY GALE: One of the issues we have in Minnesota is the separation between the metro area and greater Minnesota. And Angie has shown that ability to reach across that area in her congressional district.
MASTERS: Craig talks about how she's better equipped to win in November over her primary opponent, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan. Craig says Flanagan is more vulnerable because Trump and his allies have targeted Minnesota because of widespread fraud in state and federal social services.
CRAIG: I haven't been running the state for the last eight years, and so Republicans are going to have a really tough time getting that attack to stick to me.
MASTERS: The congresswoman does not bring up immigration in this backyard, which is front and center for voters - seeing ads on the issue constantly. Craig voted in favor of a Trump-backed immigration law, one she says she regrets. Flanagan brings that vote up regularly on the campaign trail.
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PEGGY FLANAGAN: We can stand with the immigrant community, and not just when it's politically expedient for us, and that should be the expectation we have of our leaders.
MASTERS: That's Flanagan speaking with campaign supporters Saturday at a St. Paul bar. This is a notable spot because it became a meeting place for concerned neighbors to get organized during the Trump administration's immigration crackdown here. Flanagan says many of those people are now campaigning for her.
FLANAGAN: A lot of those folks who've been part of responding to Operation Metro Surge, looking out for their neighbors, have now hit the doors because I think that they know that that's a pretty significant contrast in this race.
MASTERS: Flanagan earned the endorsement of Minnesota's Democratic Party at its convention earlier this year. Craig did not attend. Many of the delegates were frustrated by Craig's vote on that immigration bill, like daycare center director Kylie Cooper.
KYLIE COOPER: I understand the value of wanting to kind of toe a line and not take a stance or upset certain extremes, but I had families that were in absolute fear, and to tell them, like, well, we're not going to take a stance on that or we're not going to be brave, or whatever that was, just wasn't cutting it for me.
MASTERS: While the campaigns are talking about electability and immigration, Democratic strategist Abou Amara says it's all about the president in this historically blue state.
ABOU AMARA: Donald Trump is the weather in this election - right? - the atmosphere. So Democrats are trying to figure out, am I going to bring my umbrella? Am I going to wear shorts? Donald Trump is the center of the universe in terms of taking him on, taking back the Senate so that, all of a sudden, Democrats have power to do things moving forward.
MASTERS: The president is why Craig focuses on her past opposition to his administration, and it's why Flanagan keeps bringing up Trump's immigration policies that boiled over here last winter.
For NPR News, I'm Clay Masters in St. Paul.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAC MILLER SONG, "COME BACK TO EARTH") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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