Flanagan reverses course, says she was a Phi Beta Kappa member after all

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan’s (D) campaign is walking back its account of her college academic honors, confirming she was in fact a member of Phi Beta Kappa after initially stating she had never joined the prestigious honor society due to membership costs.

“I can verify that Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, having been inducted in 2002 at the University of Minnesota,” Amber Cox, Phi Beta Kappa’s chief operating officer, said in a statement Wednesday.

The confirmation came hours after The Wall Street Journal reported that Flanagan, the Democratic nominee in the Minnesota Senate race, was not a member of the honor society — despite claiming during a 2016 legislative hearing she had belonged to Phi Beta Kappa.

“The lieutenant governor was nominated for Phi Beta Kappa, but like too many other students, she couldn’t afford the application fees to become a part of the honor society,” spokesperson Alexandra Fetissoff said in the campaign’s initial statement to the Journal.

Campaign officials later told The Hill that Flanagan had believed she was a member until questions from the Journal prompted confusion internally about her status. While attempting to verify Flanagan’s membership with Phi Beta Kappa, they were unable to confirm it in time for the article’s publication.

An official said Flanagan recalled being unable to afford the $99 membership fee at the time, leading the campaign to initially tell the outlet she had been nominated but never joined.

According to Phi Beta Kappa, universities or donors sometimes cover those costs for students facing financial hardship and can do so without the student’s knowledge.

The explanation suggests Flanagan may have been inducted without knowing her membership fee had been covered, though it remains unclear whether that occurred in her case.

Phi Beta Kappa then responded to correct the reporting after one of its staffers flagged the article and confirmed she was in fact inducted in 2002 and a member in good standing.

The campaign was unable to provide a clear explanation as to why her commencement program for her class of 2002 did not list her as an honors student.

Her campaign subsequently accused the Journal of false reporting, despite having initially told the outlet that Flanagan had only been nominated for membership.

During her initial claim in 2016, Flanagan described struggling academically in high school, where she graduated with a 1.75 GPA before being inspired by a Native American professor at the University of Minnesota.

“Everything changed, there was a switch, something clicked,” she told lawmakers. “I graduated Phi Beta Kappa because I saw myself reflected in my teacher, and I saw myself reflected in my curriculum.”

The Journal had questioned the claim after reviewing her 2002 commencement program which did not list Flanagan among graduates who received academic honors.

When asked by The Hill to clarify the discrepancy in the commencement program, her campaign was unable to provide a clear explanation.

Flanagan is facing off against Republican nominee and former NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya (R) for Minnesota’s open Senate seat.