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Friday, Oct. 3, 2025

Did Minnesota change its state flag without public input?

Brian Arola, MinnPost
no

A state commission selected Minnesota’s new flag and seal in 2023 following a public input period that drew thousands of design submissions and comments. The panel, created by the Legislature in part due to criticism of the existing flag’s depiction of Indigenous peoples, was part of a broader trend of states modernizing their flags.

The State Emblems Redesign Commission was composed of 13 voting members and four legislators as non-voting members. It held 18 total meetings during the process, which drew 2,128 design submissions and 21,882 comments.

Three of the 17 members — two of them Republican state lawmakers — subsequently criticized the commission’s tight timeline and public outreach strategies. Some counties have pushed back against using the new state flag.

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