Ilhan Omar danced on stage and thanked her voters in Somali as she easily won re-election to congress despite controversy consuming her campaign in recent months.
The Minnesota Rep., 44, breezed to reelection in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District on Tuesday, as voters in the Minneapolis-based seat brushed off a federal probe and renewed scrutiny of long-running allegations about her 'sham' marriage.
Omar appeared unphased by the firestorm surrounding her at her victory party, as she danced with supporters and held her hands in the air to celebrate her re-election.
The victory keeps one of the most prominent progressive voices in Congress in Washington, where Omar has been an outspoken progressive 'Squad' member in the House since 2019.
The Somali-born congresswoman handily won her election by over 70 percent of the vote over Republican challenger John Nagel, and her race was called shortly after midnight on election night.
The race drew attention as Republicans sought to make Minnesota's high-profile fraud scandals a central issue in their challenge to the incumbent.
Omar also faced renewed controversy over allegations that she married her alleged brother, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, in 2009 to help him obtain US immigration status, claims previously reported by the Daily Mail.
Omar has repeatedly denied the allegations - but the Justice Department is investigating the case.
Ilhan Omar danced on stage and thanked her voters in Somali as she easily won re-election to congress despite controversy consuming her campaign in recent months
Omar appeared unphased by the firestorm surrounding her at her victory party on Tuesday night, as she danced with supporters and held her hands in the air to celebrate her re-election
The progressive Squad member handily defeated Republican challenger John Nagel by over 70 percentage points
The controversy intensified after federal agents searched Omar's DC home on October 12 as part of an investigation.
The Daily Mail was first to report that Omar had been seen holding hands with her married aide Tim Mynett in August 2019, and his wife then filed for divorce.
The Mail's exclusive was confirmed when his wife, Dr Beth Mynett, filed divorce papers accusing her husband of leaving her for Omar.
Nagel, a retired Minnesota state trooper who spent 30 years in law enforcement, campaigned on tackling fraud involving taxpayer money, strengthening border enforcement and supporting law enforcement.
He argued that voters were frustrated with the state's political leadership and called for greater accountability.
Omar, meanwhile, focused on raising wages, affordable housing, health care access, immigrant rights and student debt relief.
Homeland Security officers raided Omar's Washington DC home on October 12
The progressive Democrat has frequently clashed with President Donald Trump and become a prominent target of Republican criticism.
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The congresswoman's win was widely anticipated given the district's strong Democratic lean.
The Hill / Decision Desk HQ forecast on October 29 gave her a 99% chance of winning
Minnesota's 5th District includes Minneapolis and surrounding communities and had a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of D+30, reflecting its strong Democratic voting history.
Omar's re-election allows her to return to Congress on a night when the Democrats flipped the House and Senate.
Her victory also underscores the difficulty Republicans face in translating statewide controversies and attacks on a high-profile incumbent into electoral gains in heavily Democratic districts.
Despite the overwhelming blue wave, Trump insisted Republicans would have won by a landslide if he had been on the ballot and blamed bad candidates and the Iran war in interviews after the fate of the House and the Senate was confirmed.
Ahmed Nur Said Elmi referred to himself as a 'gay man' in an essay published earlier this year
Elmi, a doctoral researcher at the University of Bristol, published an essay in August entitled 'Out in the Field: Notes on Researching Queer Violence in Kenya
Last week, it emerged that Omar's ex-husband and suspected brother referred to himself as a 'gay man' in an academic paper published earlier this year.
Amid the inquiry, the Daily Caller obtained an academic report Elmi, a doctoral researcher at the University of Bristol, published in August entitled 'Out in the Field: Notes on Researching Queer Violence in Kenya.'
'As a gay man of the East African diaspora, my fieldwork was never neutral,' he wrote in the introduction.
'It was a space shaped by tension, risk, intimacy and vulnerability,' Elmi continued.
'While navigating the challenges of ethnographic research, I immersed myself in the lived experiences of the people I spoke with, while also negotiating my own safety and the complexities of my identity.'
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