Rep. Ilhan Omar easily secured a fifth term in Congress on Tuesday, capturing more than 76 percent of the vote in Minnesota’s 5th District despite two federal investigations into her citizenship paperwork and financial disclosures that became public just weeks before Election Day.
The progressive Democrat defeated Republican John Nagel and an independent challenger in the heavily Democratic Minneapolis-area seat. In remarks to supporters, Omar framed her victory as a direct response to the Trump administration, calling the president “the bigot in the White House” and describing the probes as politically motivated intimidation. She said her community refused to “cower” and delivered its answer at the ballot box. Omar also echoed a warning from fellow Democrat Robert Garcia that the Trump family should “lawyer up,” stating that Democrats’ time for “accountability and transparency” would arrive in January.
The investigations centre on two tracks. Homeland Security Investigations agents searched Omar’s Washington, D.C., residence on October 12 as part of a criminal probe examining whether she or her late father made false statements on immigration and naturalisation documents from the 1990s.
Authorities are focused in particular on her reported birth date, which allowed her to derive US citizenship as a minor when her father naturalised in 2000, as well as details of her father’s military history in Somalia. Agents seized her phone, passport, and other items; relatives, including a sister, have received grand jury subpoenas. Some officials familiar with the matter have indicated the inquiry is aimed at determining whether a case can be built to strip her of citizenship.
A similar review conducted in 2019 under the prior Trump administration found no basis for further action.
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Separately, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office in Washington is examining discrepancies in Omar’s congressional financial disclosure forms. An initial filing listed assets co-owned with her husband, Tim Mynett—including interests in a California winery and a venture-capital firm—at between $6 million and $30 million. An amended filing sharply reduced those figures; Omar’s office attributed the change to an accounting error.
The Office of Congressional Conduct had earlier reviewed related claims and recommended that the House Ethics Committee dismiss them, finding insufficient reason to believe the forms contained deliberate falsehoods.
These probes revive longstanding questions that have followed Omar since she first entered national politics. Critics have repeatedly alleged that her 2009 legal marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi was a sham intended to facilitate immigration benefits and that Elmi was her brother. Omar has consistently denied any sibling relationship or fraud.
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A 2016 investigation by the FBI and Homeland Security reportedly identified evidence raising concerns about possible marriage fraud, but prosecutors concluded the matter fell outside the statute of limitations. Public records also show that Omar filed joint tax returns with Ahmed Hirsi, the father of her children, in years she remained legally married to Elmi.
Omar has also faced repeated accusations of antisemitism. In 2019 she tweeted that US support for Israel was “all about the Benjamins, baby,” a reference widely criticised as invoking antisemitic tropes about Jewish money and influence; she later apologised. She has equated actions by the United States and Israel with those of Hamas and the Taliban and once described the September 11 attacks as “some people did something.” Those statements contributed to her removal from the House Foreign Affairs Committee in 2023 and prompted multiple resolutions of censure or condemnation from both parties.
Omar has maintained that her comments criticise Israeli government policy rather than Jewish people.
As a Minnesota state legislator, Omar was found in 2019 by the state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board to have improperly used campaign funds for personal travel and certain professional services. She was ordered to reimburse her campaign roughly $3,500 and paid a $500 civil penalty.
Omar has described the current federal actions as an “outrageous abuse of power” and an attempt to target political opponents. No criminal charges have been filed, and her district has long been one of the safest Democratic seats in the country. The investigations remain ongoing.