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At Capitol, lieutenant governor is back in governor’s wing

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Gov. Tim Walz speaks at his first Capitol news conference. In the background is the White Earth Nation flag, recognizing the tribal membership of Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. Tim Pugmire | MPR News

A Capitol office shuffle has Minnesota’s governor and lieutenant governor back in the same suite.

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The sign outside of the governor's office suite.

Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan moved into the first floor suite, not many paces apart, on the state Capitol’s west wing after taking over on Monday. It reunites a pair of offices that, at least for the last six months, were politically divided and physically distanced.

Previous Lt. Gov. Michelle Fischbach, a Republican, occupied an east wing office far from where DFL Gov. Mark Dayton was stationed.

The space Fischbach held down will be repurposed for the governor’s office staff.

Aside from being closer to Walz, Flanagan has put another visible mark on the governor’s office. A flag for the White Earth Nation -- a tribe that Flanagan is a member of -- now stands in the office’s regal reception room, next to the United States and Minnesota flags.