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Top GOP Lawmaker Blasts Dem Senate Candidate For Campaign ‘Stunt’

4 mins read
Tom Emmer
Photo Credit: United States Congress, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

U.S. Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan, who currently serves as Minnesota’s lieutenant governor, was seen campaigning in hijab in what a rival lawmaker described as a “stunt.”

Flanagan, a Democrat, gazed into a camera during the appearance and said, “The Somali community is part of the fabric of the state of Minnesota,” as questions mounted about accountability and oversight failures tied to massive theft from taxpayer-funded programs.

For Muslim women, wearing a hijab is typically understood as a sign of obedience to God and worn to demonstrate modesty, which Flanagan despite not practicing the faith.

The lieutenant governor is competing against two other Democrats in a primary to fill the seat being vacated by Sen. Tina Smith.

Republicans were quick to frame the appearance as political theater. House Republican Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota dismissed the move outright, saying the imagery was calculated.

“Peggy Flanagan and Angie Craig are battling it out in an attempt to win over the far-left radicals in the Twin Cites,” Emmer said in remarks to Fox News. “Anyone with common sense sees right through this stunt,”

The timing of Flanagan’s appearance came as Minnesota remains gripped by fallout from the Feeding Our Future investigation, a case federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota began probing in 2022.

Authorities have described the nonprofit as a central node in what the Justice Department has characterized as one of the largest pandemic relief fraud schemes ever uncovered.

Since the probe began, prosecutors have detailed $250 million in fraudulent claims and charged 78 individuals as part of a broader fraud picture estimated at $9 billion.

Many of those charged are from Minnesota’s Somali community, a fact that has fueled both scrutiny and political defensiveness at the state and national levels.

Flanagan is not the only Democrat making high-profile gestures of solidarity with Somali migrants as the investigation continues.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced he was signing an ordinance requiring residents to hear the Muslim call to prayer broadcast over loudspeakers five times a day.

The city’s police chief, Brian O’Hara, appeared on television this week to apologize to Somali residents for participating in criminal investigations involving Somali migrants, saying he was sorry if anything he said about those probes caused offense.

Democratic displays of support extended beyond Minnesota. In Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu said the city’s success is tied to Somali migrants.

In Ohio, Senate Democrats released a statement declaring they were “standing in solidarity with our Somali neighbors” and condemning what they called “vilification of immigrant communities and communities of color.”

Democrat lawmakers in both chambers of Maine’s state legislature issued a similar message backing Somali communities.

Back in Minnesota, more than 400 state employees raised alarms over the Feeding Our Future scandal, accusing Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of failing to act on early warnings of fraud and retaliating against whistleblowers who tried to sound the alarm.

Walz, a former vice presidential nominee, has faced repeated calls to account for how the program was overseen.

Walz has bristled at criticism, at times suggesting it is racist to expect Somali migrants to stop engaging in theft and fraud they were accustomed to in their home country.

Under growing pressure, the governor acknowledged in a New York Times interview that the programs may have been overly generous.

“The programs are set up to move the money to people,” Walz said last month.

“The programs are set up to improve people’s lives, and in many cases, the criminals find the loopholes,” he added while discussing the scale of abuse.

Walz later announced the creation of a new anti-fraud task force. “The message here in Minnesota is if you commit a crime, if you commit fraud against public dollars, you are going to go to prison,” he said in the same interview.

Congressional scrutiny followed as The House Oversight Committee opened an investigation into Walz’s handling of the relief programs in early December, signaling that federal lawmakers were no longer willing to accept state-level assurances.

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Chairman James Comer of Kentucky said the impact is being felt statewide.

“This massive amount of fraud is affecting and impacting every citizen of Minnesota because they’re having to cut services because so much of the money for social programs was wasted and defrauded by this Somali population,” Comer said during an appearance on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.”

Emmer also pressed Walz for answers after a viral video by YouTuber Nick Shirley showed what appeared to be a daycare facility in Minneapolis with misspelled signage and no visible activity despite receiving millions in state funds.

Shirley and another man approached a building labeled the Quality Learing Center, noting that “Learning” was misspelled on the sign.

A woman quickly appeared and repeatedly shouted to those inside, “Don’t open up. It’s ICE,” as Shirley filmed.

Shirley identified himself as a content creator and questioned whether the woman believed he or his companion were immigration agents.

The other man held a document that appeared to show $1.9 million had been paid to the center in fiscal year 2025, with Shirley saying the total he tracked amounted to $4 million.

“Go away. You’re not welcome here. Shame on you,” the woman said to Shirley.

Shirley pressed further, asking, “Are you in favor of $1.9 million going illegally/fraudulently to this business that [is called] ‘Quality Learning Center’ but can’t spell ‘learning’ right on the door?”

He said the center was licensed to care for 99 children but that none were present during the visit.

Calling the scene emblematic of a larger problem, Shirley said, “This is a prime example of the billions of dollars in fraud happening right now in Minnesota. This is one of the hundreds of ‘daycares’ receiving millions of dollars from the government.”

“This daycare (that can’t even spell learning right) received $1,900,000 in tax-exempt funding from CCAP in 2025,” he pointed out.

“This is just one of the thousands of fraudulent businesses operating in Minnesota.”

Emmer amplified the criticism online. “4 million dollars of hard-earned tax dollars going to an education center that can’t even spell learning correctly. Care to explain this one, Tim Walz?” he wrote on X.

Clark Kelley

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