As allegations of fraud sweep Minnesota’s Somali community, some local politicians who identify with it and have long benefitted from its campaign contributions may find themselves in a tough place.
People of Somali descent working in autism services, child care, and elder assistance, three areas that have recently been hit with accusations of foul play, donate tens of thousands of dollars to Somali politicians in Minnesota each year, all of them Democrats. State Sen. Omar Fateh, a 2025 Minneapolis mayoral candidate, and a handful of Somali state legislators have been among the biggest beneficiaries of such funds.
Somali community care providers have donated at least $138,000 to Minnesota politicians of Somali descent since 2020, according to a Washington Examiner analysis of state and Minneapolis municipal campaign finance records.
The true quantity of donations is likely much higher, as scores of Somali donors listed their occupations as “self-employed” without disclosing the industries they work in or providing any employment details. At least some of these people almost certainly work in community care. While tens of thousands of dollars may not go a long way in federal campaigns, it stretches much further in state and municipal elections.
Many of the Somali politicians receiving these funds themselves were strong advocates of policies that would benefit their community.
Hodan Hassan, who served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2019 to 2025 as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, for instance, helped craft legislation that would give women of color resources to help them start businesses. Fateh, meanwhile, used his position as a state senator to push public funding to the Somali Museum of Minnesota, advanced expanded protections for the Somali-heavy gig economy, and criticized police officers for killing a member of the Somali community after he had shot at law enforcement.
Abdi Daisane, a Somali who received $10,000 from Somali community care providers between 2023 and 2024 for an ill-fated legislative run, runs a day care. About a quarter of those donations came from his employees. His business has been hit with infractions for failing to collect required medical information from children, failing to prove that staff are adequately trained, and understaffing.
Federal prosecutors said during a recent press conference that the Minnesota fraud scandal could end up costing taxpayers upwards of $9 billion, with FBI Director Kash Patel calling the reports of fraud the “tip of a very large iceberg.” The Trump administration froze federal child care payments to Minnesota on Tuesday.
While no one affiliated with the organizations identified in the most recent wave of fraud allegations has been charged with crimes yet, if charges do come, it could mean that funds obtained by Somalis through defrauding the government have been flowing into the coffers of the Somali politicians to help the Somali community obtain its policy goals.
Such a possibility is far from being a mere hypothetical.
Fateh, for example, received roughly $11,000 from people implicated in the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal, wherein federal authorities uncovered a Somali-run community organization bearing that name of defrauding Minnesota’s federally funded school nutrition programs of over $250 million by billing the programs for millions of meals for poor children who never existed. Dozens have pleaded guilty to their involvement in the scheme.
Fateh, after news broke regarding the scandal, redirected the contributions to local food assistance charities. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who served in the Minnesota House before being elected to Congress, also accepted funds from people involved in the plot, which she later gave to community organizations “out of an abundance of caution.”
Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), who stands accused of allowing fraud to proliferate under his watch, has himself received thousands of dollars from people linked to Somali-operated community care centers. Some of these donors have been caught up in past fraud schemes.
The governor, for instance, received $2,750 from two Somalians employed by Best Care Home Health Care. In 2023, a judge ruled that the adult care center had improperly collected $2.23 million in Minnesota Health Care Program funds. Federal prosecutors accused Nazneen Khatoon, one of Walz’s donors, in a 2002 lawsuit of billing Medicare on behalf of other providers who were not eligible for public reimbursements, then splitting the proceeds.
ILHAN OMAR’S OBSCURE FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES UNDER SCRUTINY AMID MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL
Many of the care centers whose employees are cutting checks to Walz and his Somali Democratic allies are located in dilapidated strip malls and have scant digital footprints.
Campaign finance aside, Somalis are a large and growing voting bloc in Minnesota, and especially in Minneapolis. Any attempt by state Democrats to cross the community, such as by applying greater scrutiny to their business ventures, could be met with electoral rebukes. Further, such actions from politicians who are themselves members of the Somali community could carry considerable social costs.
