MINNEAPOLIS — U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar won a fifth term in Congress on Tuesday with the largest victory margin of her congressional career, defeating Republican John Nagel just three weeks after federal immigration investigators raided her Washington, D.C., home.
Omar received approximately 76.5% of the vote in Minnesota’s heavily Democratic 5th Congressional District, compared with 16.2% for Nagel, a former Minnesota state trooper. Independent candidate DeVelle Jackson finished a distant third.
With more than 262,000 votes, Omar defeated Nagel by approximately 207,000 votes, according to unofficial election results. The margin exceeded her previous congressional victories, including her historic first election in 2018.
Although Omar received a higher percentage of the vote in 2018, when she won nearly 78%, Tuesday’s margin over her nearest opponent was her largest since entering Congress.
The victory came against an extraordinary political backdrop.
Check out: Mshale Black Ballot – Election results for Black candidates around Minnesota.
On Oct. 12, agents from Homeland Security Investigations, an investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, searched Omar’s Washington home as part of a federal criminal investigation reportedly involving immigration paperwork completed by her late father when the family arrived in the United States as refugees.
The Justice Department confirmed that agents executed a judicially authorized search warrant as part of an ongoing criminal investigation. Omar denied wrongdoing and accused President Donald Trump’s administration of using federal law enforcement to target a political opponent.
The search, conducted just three weeks before Election Day, drew attention because the Justice Department has traditionally discouraged overt investigative actions involving political candidates close to an election.
Trump has repeatedly criticized Omar, who was born in Somalia and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000, making her immigration background a recurring subject of his political attacks.
Despite the federal investigation and political scrutiny, Omar maintained her commanding electoral advantage in a district encompassing Minneapolis and several surrounding suburbs.
Her victory followed an overwhelming win in the August DFL primary, when she received more than 80% of the vote against four challengers.
Omar first made history in 2016 when she became the first Somali American elected to a state legislature, winning a seat in the Minnesota House. Two years later, she became one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress and the first Somali American elected to the U.S. House.
In a message to supporters Wednesday, Omar celebrated her reelection while framing the results as part of a broader national rejection of the Trump administration.
“I’m incredibly honored to continue to represent you in the People’s House with a resounding mandate,” Omar wrote on social media. “We will not allow Trump to silence us.”
Omar’s victory came as Democrats swept back into control of both chambers of Congress, flipping Republican-held seats across the country in a midterm election that delivered a major setback to Trump and his party.
The results will give Democrats control of congressional committees and investigative powers when the new Congress convenes in January, setting up a period of divided government during the final two years of Trump’s presidency.
In a separate campaign email Wednesday, Omar called on Democrats to use their new congressional majorities to investigate the Trump administration and advance policy priorities including Medicare-for-All and ending the war in Iran.
“Now it’s time to deliver on our promises and earn the trust that the American People are placing in our new House and Senate majorities,” she wrote.
Her reelection ensures that one of Congress’ most prominent progressive voices will return to Washington in January as Democrats prepare to take control of Congress and the federal investigation involving her immigration history continues.
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The byline “By Mshale Staff” is used for stories that involve limited or no original reporting by our newsroom. These stories are often based on press releases or information provided by official sources, including corporations, government agencies and public institutions. The byline also may be used for reports compiled from multiple contributors, wire services, previously published material or aggregated sources when listing individual authors is impractical. Outside sources are generally identified within the story.
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