ST. PAUL – Should cities and counties be financially punished for refusing to fly the new Minnesota state flag? Minnesota House Democrats say yes, as a new bill would reduce state funding to a local government that chose to recognize the state’s previous flag.
State Representative Greg Davids (R-Preston) said this violates state statute.
“Under state law, cities and counties do not have to accept this ugly new flag,” Davids said. “It would make more sense to pass a law to get rid of this homely thing once and for all, put it in a museum somewhere and never speak of it again.”
The House Democrat bill would require state government to reduce a county’s or city’s government aid amount by 10% if that locality flies any flag other than the new flag.
In 2023, Democrats established a 13-member commission to redesign Minnesota’s state flag and seal. The commission later introduced new designs for both. However, these designs were never formally approved by voters or the state legislature. Instead, the law that the commission created specified that its final flag selection would automatically take effect as the official state flag.
“States that allowed citizens to vote on the design are much more accepting of the concept,” Davids said. “Many Minnesotans took one look at this new flag and said, I’ll pass. In fact, I’ve personally bought so many of the old flags that I could hang a new one each year and have enough to last until I turn 162 years old.”
Numerous communities across the state are choosing to fly the 1983 version of the Minnesota flag on city owned property.
“You can’t tell a town to fly whatever state flag you want and then take funding away if they dislike the new version,” Davids said. “This should be a freedom issue, not a financial one.”
Bill Anderson says
As soon as the Democrats changed the flag, I ordered a couple of the old ones to run up my flagpole. I recall that the winning design presented was then changed by the committee to suit what they wanted. They rammed it through without any across the aisle support.
My neighbor is a staunch 3rd generation Democrat, and he flies the old one like I do. I’ve mentioned that his party is not the same one that his forefathers voted for, but he’s still got his blinders on. We’re big buddies anyway!
Star Ostgard says
Question: Why are people suddenly so upset about the new flag – which was adopted TWO YEARS AGO. Vote on it? The original 1893 flag wasn’t voted on. A committee chose it, the legislature approved it. The 1957 update was decided by committee and approved by the legislature. The 2024 flag is no different – selected by committee which was appointed by the legislature. Even Spring Valley’s city council kowtowed to this ridiculous pettiness when they accepted a “donated” flag pole with the stipulation it fly the old flag. That wasn’t a donation – that was vindictiveness being supported by the city council. Frankly, this whole flag business is just another attempt by the rightwing to go after the libs. This is obvious by comments seen on social media, which include attacks on the governor and remarks about a particular country and people. It’s nothing more than the same political venom couched in terms of a piece of cloth. If you don’t like the new flag, tough. Grow up.
Jim says
By your own words and Mr. David’s above, in 2024 the flag was not approved by the state legislature, just the establishment of a committee as had been done in the past. We the people had no say in the matter this time and neither did our representatives!!! What a waste of legislative time when we have billions given away fraudulently and a multi-billion dollar surplus that was NOT returned to the taxpayers who were overtaxed and generated that surplus.
Ann says
IF I had been able to vote on the new flag/old flag, I definitely would have voted to keep the old flag. Then, later, I saw how similar the new flag is to the Somali flag and I really wanted our old flag back……
Anonymous says
Leave it to Rep. Davids to have his finger on the pulse of that which constitutes the highest priority for his constituents, the matter of the revised Minnesota State Flag.
Many people who reside outside the boundaries of Davids’ district are apparently concerned about rising gasoline and diesel prices; decreased affordability for the majority of the populace to meet their basic food, energy, shelter and medical care costs; reduced access to potentially life saving vaccines; the loss of food stamps; the proposed expenditure before the U. S. Senate to approve $1 billion of our tax dollars to build a 90,000 square foot ballroom addition to the White House; ongoing trade wars and tariffs that seem to change more frequently than the weather; the murders of U. S. citizens at the hands of ICE and CBP with no consequence to those who cause those deaths; the loss of foreign markets for U. S. produced agricultural products; and close to $1 billion/day to wage war upon yet another oil-rich country, just to name a few concerns that exist outside of Davids’ district.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is, either by accident or intent, throwing an enormous financial lifeline to a country purported to be our most important ally, i.e., Russia, whose economy has been on life support. Now able to sell their petroleum products for prices that are more than double what they were before February 28, 2026, they can can use that extra money to bomb even more kindergartens, hospitals, schools and countless other civilian structures in Ukraine.
Davids’ article also serves another purpose which is of utmost importance to his political party, the distraction of the nation’s attention from the Epstein files and the countless high net worth persons who raped underage females who were trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is now residing in a country club correctional facility in Bryan, Texas. We are told that the privacy of those who raped underage girls must be protected at all costs. So, anything to divert our attention away from the more than 3,000,000 documents that are still under lock and key that have yet to see the light of day.
Returning to the flag matter…
If an old Minnesota State Flag is flying at the top of a flagpole, ask a passerby to look up at that flag and describe in detail to you the specifics that they see on that flag, as well as what those images mean to them.
Returning to the matter of state flags, in general, several of the state flags that have been revised during recent years have been simplified. Several sports teams have changed their names, such as the Cleveland Guardians and the Washington Commanders. Of course, many of Davids’ supporters are likely heartened by the changing of the names for many of our military installations, reverting back to honor Confederate military officers (who were not part of the United States at the time of the American Civil War), whose aim was to bring our experiment in democracy to a crashing end. Never mind that many of the ancestors of people who reside in Davids’ district perished at hands of the Confederacy.
For the sake of comparison, here are a few other state flags to consider…
Alabama — https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Alabama
Alaska — https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Alaska
Arizona — https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Arizona
Colorado — https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Colorado
Hawaii — https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Hawaii
New Mexico — https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-New-Mexico
Tennessee — https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Tennessee
Texas — https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Texas
Utah — https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Utah
Washington, D.C. — https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Washington-DC
I would invite any of the naysayers to submit a flag that will not upset anyone residing within the State of Minnesota. No matter what design is adopted, there will be those who are displeased.
Part and parcel of residing in this country is accepting that not everything that is done in our country, our state, our county and/or our community’s name will please every one of us. If any of us do not personally support one of our nation’s many foreign military adventures, we do not have the option of deciding to withhold the portion that represents our nation’s war expenditures from our tax payments. We pay property taxes that support our schools, even if we don’t have children. We pay for police and fire protection, even if we cannot imagine ever needing either.
All that said, there is absolutely nothing that prohibits us from flying whatever flag we want on our own personal property, no matter how offensive it might be to someone else. That does not give us permission to impose our personal preferences upon everyone else.
Anonymous says
It would seem that you have decided to paint all of the estimated 107,000 Somalis in Minnesota with the same brush as the 85 Somalis who have apparently been charged to date.
Here’s the link to that population estimate, published by KTTC: https://www.kttc.com/2025/12/04/by-numbers-minnesotas-somali-population-according-census-data/
According to this article by the right-wing oriented website, The Center Square, a total of 85 Somalis have been charged with participation in a welfare fraud scheme. It should be noted that the head of Feeding Our Future, the organization which perpetrated the fraud scheme was Aimee Bock, who clearly appears to be Caucasian. Here is that article: https://www.thecentersquare.com/minnesota/article_342cc0cd-74ef-46e9-8d0f-5e81a5537216.html
Although the “marriage mill” scandal in Fillmore County received considerable publicity in the 1960s, that scheme involved a handful of people. Would it have been fair to punish everyone in the county for the actions of a few?
All that aside, I’d ask readers to take a look at the following two flags and ask them if they are seeing what you see.
Minnesota State Flag — https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Minnesota
Flag of Somalia — https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Somalia
Barbara says
I want to fly the old flag because it has a lot more meaning for my family !!
Anonymous says
Although this writer can recall countless gatherings with multiple generations of family members, including great-grandparents, I cannot think of a single conversation that made any mention of the Minnesota State flag or its symbolism. Perhaps my family was unusual in that regard.
So, please enlighten us, Barbara. If you don’t mind, perhaps you could explain to us all what the meaning of the Minnesota flag was to your family.
Catherine Bendzick says
Minnesota Democrats designed a flag Minnesotans hate, NEVER put it to a vote, and now want to CUT funding to any city that flies the old one.
Rep. Davids said it best — ‘You can’t tell a town to fly whatever flag you want and then punish them financially if they refuse.’
This flag was never approved by voters. Never approved by the legislature. A 13-member commission decided for ALL of Minnesota.
That’s not democracy. That’s exactly the kind of government overreach Minnesotans are sick of.
WE WANT OUR FLAG BACK. 🇺🇸
The one that actually represents Minnesota — not a design that looks like it belongs to another country.