Overview
- State Sen. John Hoffman said at a Flanagan campaign event last Friday that a friend visited him twice on Rep. Angie Craig’s behalf to seek his endorsement while he was in the ICU and again while he was recovering at home.
- Craig’s campaign called Hoffman’s account “categorically false” and released screenshots of two texts that show a June 14, 2025 condolence message and an Aug. 5 message asking to discuss the open Senate race.
- Hoffman maintains the friend confirmed the requests came from Craig and says the texts do not address his claim about the in-person visits, and both sides continue to stand by their versions of events.
- The dispute surfaced in Monday’s debate and other late-stage campaign events with the Aug. 11 DFL primary two weeks away, sharpening attacks over character, endorsements and electability.
- The Hoffmans’ 2025 shooting and the attacker’s recent life sentences are a constant factual backdrop to the disagreement and have heightened public sensitivity to how campaigns treat victims.