When Minnesota Governor Tim Walz jumped onto the national ballot this week as Kamala Harris’s running mate, a curious claim made the rounds on social media: The Democrat had recently redesigned the state flag to resemble the Somali national flag.
The claim, which has also been promoted in recent days by conservative podcast host Joe Rogan, is based on misinformation that first emerged late last year when a 13-member commission was in the midst of a major overhaul of Minnesota’s flag and seal.
“Kamala Harris’ preferred running mate, Tim Walz, is the governor who just changed the Minnesota flag to resemble the Somali flag,” Texas resident Philip Anderson posted on X. “This man has absolutely NO LOYALTY to our country and says socialism is a good thing.”
However, Walz was neither a member of this commission nor was he involved in the selection of the final design that was to form the basis for the new national flag.
All of the work was done by a commission of graphic designers, Native American leaders and other community members appointed by the Minnesota State Legislature last year in response to decades of criticism that the imagery on the state flag and seal was problematic.
The original state seal, which was in the center of the flag, featured a white settler plowing a field in the foreground while a Native American rides off into the sunset on horseback, seemingly leaving the land. Flag designers also pushed for a new look for years because Minnesota’s busy design looked like more than a dozen other state flags and was difficult to decipher from a distance.
Although Walz signed a broader bill that also created the commission, their work was conducted independently of the executive and legislative branches. Late last year, they had four months and a budget of $35,000 to redesign both emblems and solicit the public for ideas for a new flag and seal.
The winning flag was designed by Andrew Prekker, a 24-year-old Luverne resident who was one of more than 2,000 Minnesotans who developed alternatives for the commission.
