Angie Craig

Biography

Angie Craig was born in Tennessee and grew up in Arkansas. She earned her B.A. from the University of Memphis. She worked in the medical device industry before being elected to Congress in 2018. She is competing in the Democratic primary against Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan.

Professional background

U.S. Representative (2019–present); Medical device industry executive

Public service

U.S. Representative, Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District (2019–present)

In this race

• Peggy Flanagan (Democratic)

Issue positions

Healthcare (Policy)

Craig does not support a Medicare for All System, but instead emphasizes protecting Medicare and Medicaid, extending the Affordable Care Act, lowering prescription-drug prices, and preserving private coverage. That orientation is consistent with her House record. CBO estimates that permanently restoring the expanded premium-tax-credit structure would increase deficits by $350 billion over 2026-2035. But the subsidies could also weaken price discipline by insulating enrollees from premium increases and channeling more federal money through insurers. Her clearest legislative contribution is drug affordability. Craig wrote the Affordable Insulin Now Act. Its Medicare provision became part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, capping covered insulin at $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries. She has continued seeking the same cap for people with private insurance. She also supported Medicare negotiation of selected drug prices, inflation rebates and a $2,000 annual Part D out-of-pocket ceiling. Craig also sponsored the State Health Care Premium Reduction Act, offering states $10 billion annually for reinsurance or direct cost-sharing assistance. Reinsurance can lower individual-market premiums and is a practical fit for Minnesota's existing market, but it subsidizes high claims rather than directly lowering hospital prices; the Commonwealth Fund cautions that its affordability gains are limited for people with job-based coverage or high deductibles. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Craig supports expanding affordability within the current healthcare system rather than replacing it, with policies that could lower costs for many seniors and ACA enrollees but increase federal spending while leaving broader healthcare cost drivers largely unresolved."

Taxes (Policy)

Craig supports tax increases for a small group of Americans. Craig says she would “implement a tax system that helps the middle class,” but does not outline a specific plan. Craig opposed the largest tax cut in American history, and instead favors a more progressive tax code while pairing higher taxes on top earners with targeted middle-class relief. Her signature proposal is the You Earned It, You Keep It Act. It would eliminate federal income tax on Social Security benefits, reimburse the Social Security and Medicare trust funds from general revenues, and apply the 12.4% payroll tax to wages above $250,000. Craig’s campaign has not published a complete rate table, which makes the fiscal effect of her broader Senate agenda harder to evaluate. Removing the Social Security payroll tax cap would expose all wage income above $184,500 (the 2026 cap) to the 12.4% OASDI payroll tax and would mean a significant tax increase for higher-earning professionals and small business owners. However, since Social Security benefits are calculated as a percentage of lifetime contributions, high earners would also receive substantially larger benefit payouts — meaning the policy could represent both a significant tax increase and a significant benefit windfall for higher-earning professionals and small business owners. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Craig’s tax agenda shifts more of the tax burden onto higher-income earners while providing targeted relief for retirees and middle-class families. Her plan is not fully detailed but would rely on significant new taxes and general-fund transfers."

Environment & Energy (Policy)

Craig voted for the IRA and has backed clean-energy tax credits, rural renewable projects, biofuels and conservation programs. CBO’s January 2025 baseline placed the 2026–2035 deficit cost of federal wind and solar investment and production credits at about $300 billion. CBO also found the credits would stimulate investment while warning that wage, domestic-content, and location conditions can steer capital toward higher-cost projects. Craig provides no guardrails for cost, grid reliability, permitting, nuclear power, or dependence on foreign supply chains. Craig has defended nuclear power more clearly than some Democrats, but her public platform should specify how she would keep Midwestern electricity reliable and affordable as demand from data centers, vehicles and heating grows. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Craig favors accelerating the clean-energy transition through federal incentives while maintaining support for biofuels and nuclear power, though questions remain about the long-term costs and reliability of an increasingly renewable-powered electric grid."

Immigration (Policy)

Craig’s Senate campaign says immigration is economically important and stresses due process and immigration reform. Craig has opposed the Trump administration’s deportation efforts, calling ICE operations in Minnesota “misguided, illegal, and outright dangerous.” Craig supports “asylum processes that are fast, fair, and final” and that provide “a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers.” In 2025, Craig voted against a bill that would require the deportation of illegal immigrants convicted of DUI. The legislation also bars non-citizens convicted of DUI from entering the United States. Craig voted for the Laken Riley Act, which requires detention of certain noncitizens who are arrested for or charged with theft and other specified offenses and permits state lawsuits over some federal immigration decisions. Craig later said she regretted her vote. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Craig supports allowing criminal illegal immigrants to enter and remain in the United States at the expense of American lives."

Public Safety (Policy)

Craig’s senate platform calls for increased gun control measures, including universal background checks and an assault-weapons ban; domestic-violence firearm restrictions; mental-health services; and fentanyl enforcement. Craig has condemned Trump’s use of the National Guard to make D.C. safer, despite having no difficulty being tough on crime after she was assaulted in the elevator of her D.C. apartment in 2023. A RAND study found moderate evidence that background checks reduce firearm suicides and limited-to-moderate evidence on some homicide outcomes. It found the evidence on assault-weapon bans’ effect on homicide inconclusive in the reviewed literature, while evidence for some child-access prevention laws was stronger for reducing youth firearm injuries and suicides. Heritage argues that semi-automatic rifles are rarely used in ordinary gun crime and that “assault weapon” definitions often turn on cosmetic features. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Craig openly supports restrictions on the Second Amendment and pushes for increased gun control."

Economy & Labor (Policy)

Craig’s economic agenda combines pro-labor policies with farm-state pragmatism. She supports the PRO Act, apprenticeship and career education, affordable child care and housing, domestic manufacturing, strong crop insurance and SNAP, and congressional limits on unilateral tariffs. As the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, she has emphasized a bipartisan farm bill, year-round E15 sales, rural broadband and a White House Office of Rural Prosperity. The PRO Act would ban right to work laws across the nation, harming workers and costing businesses $47 billion each year. The legislation would be funded by a $2 trillion tax hike. Her enacted record is more bipartisan than her campaign rhetoric suggests. The Craig-Balderson PPP extension kept the pandemic loan program open through August 8, 2020, giving small employers additional time to apply. She also helped author the Payment Integrity Information Act, which consolidated federal improper-payment reporting and requires agencies to identify risks and corrective actions. GAO reports $2.8 trillion in estimated improper payments since 2003, but also found that some agencies remain noncompliant - evidence that transparency law helps oversight but does not itself stop waste. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Craig's economic agenda combines support for organized labor and rural agriculture with more moderate trade and farm policies, though some proposals would increase costs for businesses while others strengthen oversight and rural economic stability."

Democracy & Campaign Finance (Policy)

Craig supports the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the Freedom to Vote Act, automatic and expanded voting access, campaign-finance disclosure and a constitutional response to Citizens United. She also supports banning members of Congress from owning or trading individual stocks, barring former members from lobbying, ending partisan gerrymandering and imposing congressional term limits. Stock-trading and lobbying restrictions would reduce obvious conflicts and could improve trust. Independent redistricting rules could make representation more competitive. Term limits are less clearly beneficial as they remove experienced lawmakers as well as entrenched ones and can shift influence toward permanent staff and lobbyists. Craig also voted twice to impeach President Trump; supporters view that as constitutional accountability, while critics see partisan escalation. A fair assessment is that she has a detailed ethics agenda, but its institutional consequences deserve more attention than its campaign framing provides. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Craig supports a broad package of ethics, voting-rights, and campaign-finance reforms aimed at increasing transparency and public trust, though some institutional changes—such as term limits and redistricting reforms—carry potential tradeoffs."

Foreign Policy (Policy)

Craig has historically supported Israel and her previous campaigns have received AIPAC funding. In April 2024 she voted for the bipartisan national-security package providing military assistance to Ukraine, defensive aid for Israel, support for Taiwan and humanitarian aid for Gaza. The full package totaled about $95 billion, including roughly $60.8 billion related to Ukraine, $26.4 billion for Israel and regional humanitarian needs, and $8.1 billion for the Indo-Pacific. Craig’s record suggests she would resist isolationism and favor NATO, Israel and Indo-Pacific partners, but her campaign materials are thin on war powers, China trade and defense-budget tradeoffs. Her approach offers steadiness and bipartisan reach, but does not define explicit conditions, which risks turning emergency packages into open-ended obligations. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Craig generally supports a traditional internationalist foreign policy centered on U.S. alliances and military assistance to partners, while leaving key questions about the long-term limits, oversight, and fiscal costs of those commitments unanswered."

Sources (Reference)

◆ Healthcare
• Congressional Budget Office — Budgetary Effects of Permanently Extending Enhanced Marketplace Tax Credits
• Heritage Foundation — Six Reasons Congress Should Not Make Temporary Obamacare Subsidies Permanent
• Rep. Angie Craig — Affordable Insulin Now Act
• Reps. Craig and Peters — State Health Care Premium Reduction Act

◆ Taxes
• Rep. Angie Craig — You Earned It, You Keep It Act
• Social Security Administration — Contribution and Benefit Base

◆ Environment & Energy
• Congressional Budget Office — January 2025 Budget and Economic Outlook

◆ Immigration
• Angie Craig Campaign — Protecting Our Democracy and Freedoms
• Angie Craig — Public Statement on Minnesota ICE Operations
• Angie Craig — Public Statement on Immigration Enforcement
• Congress.gov — Laken Riley Act (H.R. 29)
• Fox News — Coverage of Craig’s Laken Riley Act Vote

◆ Public Safety
• Angie Craig Campaign — Keeping Our Communities Safe
• Rep. Angie Craig — Public Statement on National Guard Deployment
• CNN — Reporting on the 2023 Assault of Angie Craig
• RAND — The Science of Gun Policy
• Heritage Foundation — Protecting America from Assault Weapons

◆ Economy & Labor
• Angie Craig Campaign — Rebuilding and Strengthening Minnesota’s Middle Class
• Americans for Tax Reform — Analysis of the PRO Act
• House Committee on Education and the Workforce — PRO Act One-Pager
• Rep. Troy Balderson — PPP Extension Legislation
• Government Accountability Office — Government-Wide Improper Payments Reporting

◆ Democracy & Campaign Finance
• Angie Craig Campaign — Fighting and Fixing Corruption in Washington

◆ Foreign Policy
• Rep. Angie Craig — Bipartisan National-Security Legislation
• Associated Press — Breakdown of the 2024 Foreign-Aid Package