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Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz is facing a new challenge from a Minneapolis-area mayor who is refusing to back down from flying the original 1980s state flag. The mayor said the controversial flag redesign has left citizens out of the process and stuck with what consider an “ugly” replacement.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Champlin Mayor Ryan Sabas said that “in my nearly 10 years of being on the city council in Champlin and going on four years as mayor of this town, I have never heard from more people on any one issue than I did about the Minnesota state flag.”
The new flag has become a cultural and political flashpoint in a state already reeling from one of the largest fraud scandals in U.S. history, heavily involving the Somali immigrant community. The flag was approved by a 13-member commission created by the Democratic-controlled legislature in 2023. Critics of the flag say it is overly simplistic and some have even knocked it as bearing a resemblance to Somalia’s national flag.
Sabas said that “without any question” there is at least a two-to-one majority in favor of keeping the earlier 1983 version of the state flag. He said that many believe it erases their history, while others simply think it is “ugly.” He also emphasized the massive wasteful spending to replace the old flag, pointing to the $40,000 it cost the city of Champlin alone. For these reasons, he is now calling on Walz and the state legislature to reopen the flag issue and put it to a vote by citizens across the state.
“These are the people’s flagpoles. This is the people’s decision,” he emphasized.
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The old flag features a blue field with the state seal, with a farmer and American Indian figure along with the state motto and founding date. The new flag touts a more simplified design with a dark shape representing Minnesota, a light blue field and an eight-point North Star.
In its final report to the Minnesota legislature, the Minnesota State Emblems Redesign Commission said that “through extensive public input, a design contest that drew over 2,500 entries, and many hours of deliberations,” the commission had “created designs that reflect the spirit of Minnesota — the people, the land and water, and the history of our state.”
Many Minnesotans, however, do not feel the flag represents them or their state.
The Champlin City Council voted in February to continue flying the original Minnesota state flag. There has been an effort by some Democrats in the legislature to crack down on around a dozen towns and counties across the state refusing to fly the new flag.
Sabas emphasized that Champlin is well within its legal rights to fly whichever state flag it wants or even no flag at all. He said that he does not have a particular personal attachment to the old flag. He does, however, take issue with how he believes the citizens of Minnesota were left out of the process of choosing their own flag.
“Two years ago, the governor and the Democrats had full power of the House, Senate, and the governor’s seat. They chose they wanted to change the state flag, which they legally have the ability to do that. But instead of bringing this to the House, through the Senate and all voting on it, they picked select members of a committee and that’s who chose the flag,” he said.
Now, Sabas said Walz and the state legislature “have the opportunity to do this legally and do it right.”
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In the state legislature, Minnesota Sen. Mark Koran, a Republican, told Fox News Digital that despite being created as a bipartisan commission, the flag redesign committee only represented “about 13 percent of Minnesota’s population.”
“Native Americans, Hispanic, LGBT, you name it, every special group was identified,” he said. “So, that was really reflective of how all governance [in Minnesota] has been done by a small group of people that they’ve pandered to under the guise that they’re they’ve been oppressed and they’ve given them the strongest voice.”
While he admitted that the flag “may seem unimportant at one level,” he said it has galvanized people across the state because “it’s a direct assault on hard-working, legal U.S. Minnesotans.”
“It was a process that reflected almost how all of [Minnesota] legislation has been implemented,” he asserted.
Back in Champlin, Tim Huttner, a member of the city council, echoed the mayor’s sentiment on putting the new flag to a statewide vote.
“We cannot legally put it on a city ballot, but it doesn’t mean we can’t put it on a state ballot,” he told Fox News Digital.
Huttner said that before the council voted on which flag to fly, he held a roundtable of his own with constituents. By taking an informal vote of roundtable attendees, Huttner said he found “100 percent” expressed support for flying the original flag.
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When a constituent asked him what his opinion was on the flag, Huttner said his response was, “I don’t have an opinion. I work for you.”
“I respect our city legislators, I respect our state legislators, but sometimes you’ve got to redo a redo,” he continued. “I believe this is one of those times.”
As the nonpartisan leader of a purple municipality, Sabas said of Walz, “I’ve always felt that he’s someone who does listen to me when I have something to say.”
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“So, I challenge the governor in his last year of being governor of the state of Minnesota to really find a way to unite,” he said. “Unite Minnesotans, unite us, Republicans, Democrats, people that don’t know which side they are on, unite us.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Walz, Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth and Minnesota Senate President Bobby Joe Champion for comment.