A Political Ad That Captures What Americans Feel

As a former resident of Minnesota, this writer is excited to see that, following the vast swath of corruption and destruction that has been visited on the North Star State by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) leadership, voters may finally be ready for change.

Republican Michele Tafoya is currently in a dead heat with Democrat Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan for the Senate seat left open by Democrat Tina Smith’s retirement. This fact alone has some Democrats panicking – but liberals may also lose other races in this longtime Democrat stronghold.

One of those is the race for Secretary of State, where Democrat Steve Simon, who has held office since 2015, is being challenged by Republican Tad Jude, a veteran politician who has served on the Hennepin County (Minneapolis) Board of Commissioners, the Minnesota House, and the Minnesota Senate.

Given the incredible amount of fraud in the state (which most sources think is more than $9 billion) and the recent federal grand jury indictments of non-citizens voting in the state, there is no surprise in Jude’s running for the office on a platform of cleaning up the mess. His website lists the planks of “Tad’s SAVE Minnesota Plan,” a nice allusion to the SAVE Act that President Trump has been encouraging Republicans to pass. Jude’s Minnesota version is as follows:

• Require a photo ID to vote
• Ensure only legal U.S. citizens vote
• Work with local, state, and federal partners to clean up voter rolls
• Bring back the traditional Minnesota flag by public vote
• Prevent fraud in public programs

In an October 15 press conference, Jude laid out in greater length his vision for “strengthening election security, restoring accountability, rebuilding public trust” in order to defeat the “culture of fraud” that has overtaken the state. In one part of the press conference, Jude recounted how one 2024 Minnesota House race was decided by 14 votes—while 21 ballots could not be found.

As can be seen, Jude’s campaign is focused on very important and practical issues related to fraud. Yet, in the list of action points given above, one can see that Jude is also focused on a matter of policy that is tied to culture: Jude wants to bring back the traditional Minnesota flag by having the public vote on it.

Minnesota’s flag was changed only two years ago. The traditional flag of the state, designed in 1893 and revised several times, was deemed politically incorrect by liberals because it depicted a farmer plowing and a Native American man on a horse. Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan refused to display it, and the state government changed the flag again.

The result may not have intentionally been made to look like the flag of Somalia, but it reminds many Minnesotans of that flag and of the many problems caused by Somalis in Minnesota. Somalis make up about one percent of Minnesota’s population, but 30 percent of its gang members in the Twin Cities region. They are also vastly overrepresented in fraud cases.

Many counties and towns have begun to refuse to fly the new flag—and some have very pointedly displayed the old.

Tad Jude’s focus on the flag is featured in his new and inspiring campaign ad, which has garnered millions of views on X and has been acclaimed for its positive and patriotic focus.

In the ad, which Jude narrates throughout in a classic Minnesota accent, there is a focus on the traditional culture and ethos of the state. “We are still here,” Jude begins, before recounting the places and experiences that make up the real experience of being a Minnesotan.

“Something changed here, and most of us felt it,” Jude continues, noting that it wasn’t something people experienced “as Republicans or Democrats.” That experience was “like something that belonged to us was decided for us, like we came home one day and the house had been rearranged while we were gone.”

It’s clear that Jude is referring to the fraud, but he is also referring to the flag. Jude is seen at one point looking at a newspaper article about “early fraud warnings,” and then one about how some of the Twin Cities suburbs refuse to fly that new flag.

The ad very clearly demonstrates the pain that many Americans have felt over the last decade as the liberal establishment has waged war on traditional symbols and values while telling everyday people that they don’t matter nearly as much as people from other countries, and certainly not as much as the ruling class that doesn’t care about them. “But when the people trusted to protect all of this,” Jude continues, “to keep the records honest, to keep the process clean, to keep the decision in our hands, when they stopped answering to us, you felt it, Minnesota. We all did.”

Political ads are often divided up into the positive and the negative. One of the most famous positive ads ever was Ronald Reagan’s 1984 “Morning in America” spot, which touted the great economic conditions accomplished in his first term. Even in that ad, however, there was a negative push, a warning about not wanting “to return to where we were four short years ago.”

Jude’s ad is overwhelmingly positive, but it is also a call to arms that many Americans will resonate with. Even two years into the second Trump administration, we all see how much work needs to be done to ensure our leaders put the interests of this country and her people first.