Minnesota Lt. Gov. and U.S. Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan appeared on a Somali television station wearing a hijab while visiting a mall, a moment that has sparked criticism as a major fraud investigation involving the state continues.
“The Somali community is part of the fabric of the state of Minnesota,” Flanagan said, speaking directly to the camera.
For many Muslim women, a hijab is commonly worn as a sign of modesty and religious devotion. Flanagan, who has said she is Catholic, also notes on her campaign website that her “view on immigration is grounded in her Catholic faith.”
Flanagan is competing against two other Democrats in the primary contest to replace outgoing Sen. Tina Smith. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is Minnesota’s other U.S. senator.
Flanagan has faced pushback before over high-profile progressive messaging. In August, she appeared in a video wearing a “Protect Trans Kids” shirt featuring a knife and told parents: “When our children tell us who they are, it’s our job as grown-ups to listen and believe them.”
Minnesota Rep. and House Republican Whip Tom Emmer criticized Flanagan’s hijab appearance, calling it a “stunt.”
“Peggy Flanagan and Angie Craig are battling it out in an attempt to win over the far-left radicals in the Twin Cites,” Emmer told Fox News Digital. “Anyone with common sense sees right through this stunt.”
In 2022, federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota began investigating a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future, which authorities say played a central role in what the Justice Department has described as one of the largest pandemic relief fraud schemes in history.
Since the investigation began, prosecutors say $250 million in fraudulent claims have been linked to 78 people charged as part of what they describe as a broader $9 billion fraud scheme.
Many of those charged, according to the report, are from Minnesota’s Somali community.
The controversy has also drawn internal criticism. More than 400 Minnesota state employees raised concerns about the state’s response, alleging negligence in addressing warnings and claiming retaliation against whistleblowers who tried to highlight potential fraud.
Gov. Tim Walz has been pressed publicly about the issue multiple times, and said in a New York Times interview that some programs may have been too expansive.
“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.”
Walz said he created a new anti-fraud task force as part of a broader crackdown.
“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 told the Times.
The House Oversight Committee opened an investigation into Walz’s handling of the relief program at the beginning of December.
“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,” House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” earlier this week.
Comer said he plans to subpoena testimony and records, setting up what could become a high-profile hearing.
President Donald Trump also weighed in after the controversy intensified, ending deportation protections for Somali nationals in Minnesota “effectively immediately” in November, after news of the fraud scandal broke.
“Send them back to where they came from,” Trump posted to Truth Social. “It’s OVER!”
