Minnesota Senate candidate wears hijab in visit to Somali market as fraud scandal unfolds
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan appears in video wearing hijab amid massive Somali fraud scandal that has rocked the state government and officials.
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Minnesota Lt. Gov. and U.S. Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan was seen on a Somali TV station wearing a hijab at a mall, as a widespread fraud scandal implicating some Somalis plagues the state.
"The Somali community is part of the fabric of the state of Minnesota," Flanagan said, looking into the camera.
For Muslim women, wearing a hijab is typically a sign of obedience to God and worn to show modesty.
Flanagan has previously stated that she is Catholic and says on her campaign website that her "view on immigration is grounded in her Catholic faith."
ILHAN OMAR DEFENDS MEALS ACT DESPITE TIES TO MASSIVE MINNESOTA FRAUD SCHEME
Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota’s lieutenant governor and Senate hopeful, is facing backlash over her progressive activism and outreach amid the state’s sprawling fraud controversy. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
The lieutenant governor is challenging two other Democratic candidates in the primary race to fill the seat of outgoing Democratic Sen. Tina Smith. Former Democratic presidential candidate and current Sen. Amy Klobuchar serves as the other senator from the state.
Flanagan’s far-left views also prompted her to wear a "Protect Trans Kids" shirt with a knife on it in August in a viral video telling 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 also weighed in on Flanagan wearing a hijab, calling the act 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 probing a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future, an organization which fueled what the Justice Department said is one of the largest pandemic relief fraud schemes in history.
Gov. Tim Walz's state and the Somali community are drawing scrutiny amid a sweeping federal probe into billions in alleged pandemic relief fraud. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
