Minnesota Republicans push to put new state flag up to a statewide vote

Republican legislators want to put the new Minnesota flag on the ballot this fall.

Frustrated by the process used to redesign the state’s official state flag, the lawmakers want to give voters the chance to say yea or nay in an election.

The proposed constitutional amendment was part of a suite of bills Republicans rolled out on Tuesday as the flag redesign shifts to a more partisan issue in 2024. A group of less than two dozen conservative activists also rallied on the Capitol steps in the afternoon, waving the state’s old flag design while criticizing the 13-member commission that debated and settled on a new design for both the flag and the seal.

“Thirteen unelected members spoke for 5.7 million people,” said Sen. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, who sat on the commission as a nonvoting member. “Thirteen members designed what is before us and about to become the next flag and seal of Minnesota if the Legislature doesn’t act.”

The DFL-led House and Senate passed legislation last session to create the commission to redesign the flag and the seal after decades of criticism that the imagery on both was problematic and too similar to more than a dozen other state flags. The state seal, which is at the center of the flag, shows a white settler plowing a field in the foreground while a Native American man on horseback rides into the sunset.

After months of debate and thousands of public submissions, the commission approved a new flag design that features the shape of Minnesota, cast in a deep blue and topped with an eight-point star.

Republicans are in the minority in both chambers of the Legislature, and Democrats haven’t shown interest in revisiting the work of the commission this session.

Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton, who sponsored the legislation to create the commission and sat on it as a nonvoting member, said the poorly attended rally shows “this controversy is manufactured by Republicans.”

“From what I could see, it looked like there were more Republican legislators at the press conference than there were Minnesotans gathered outside. By comparison, the commission to consider changes to the flag and seal received thousands of submissions and almost 22,000 public comments,” she said in a statement. “I am proud of that process, and the result, and look forward to seeing the new flag fly over the Capitol.”

The new design won’t start flying until May 11, which is Statehood Day, but Republicans’ proposed legislation would halt the changeover until after a public vote.

If voters reject the new design, the proposal would create a new commission that would have more than a year to design an alternative option. Rep. Bjorn Olson, R-Fairmont, said Mississippi recently voted on a redesigned flag, which has diminished controversy. A separate bill would ask legislators to approve the new design by a two-thirds majority.

Bills would also make tweaks to the state seal, which was redesigned to feature a red-eyed loon prominently at its center. They would add back the year of statehood to the seal while removing “Mni Sóta Makoc̣e,” Dakota for the “land where the waters reflect the sky.” Commission members supported adding the language because it’s where Minnesota’s name is derived, but critics said it violates law barring state emblems from including imagery or words that represent only one group.

Another proposal would help local governments cover the cost of replacing the old flag and seal on city and county property.

In Benton County, officials estimate it would cost the county about $50,000 to replace seals on county vehicles and sheriff’s office badges and about $700 to replace current flags.

“I look at all the money this is going to cost the state of Minnesota,” said Jared Gapinski, chair of the Benton County Board. “We’re underfunded on so many things and then they do this. I can tell you — I think we can spend our money elsewhere.”

Benton County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday on a resolution asking the Legislature and Gov. Tim Walz to reject the recommendations for a new flag and seal.

The resolution, based off one that Crow Wing County passed in January, states the flag and seal “contain historical information on our farming background, Native American heritage and the co-existence that is part of the rich history of our state.” Officials from more than a dozen counties have adopted resolutions stating they are not in favor of the new flag and seal.