News/Commentary

‘Lost State’: Alleged Somali fraudster wins MN state House seat

November 6, 2026 | | Print Article

Voters in St. Cloud, Minnesota, elected the owner of a Somali daycare center that is linked to a massive fraud settlement to a seat in the state legislature.

Of course, the Somali-born candidate with a D next to his name – well, make that a DFL, for Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party – is laughing in our faces.

Abdi Daisane, who delivered his victory speech largely in Somali, beat his Republican opponent to win Minnesota’s House District 14A seat, proving that the bar to hold office is not very high today.

“A Somali daycare owner whose business has faced scrutiny over millions in state and federal funding defeated a Republican incumbent to win a Minnesota House seat,” Fox News noted on X. “Abdi Daisane’s Blooming Kids Child Care Center has been cited for over a dozen violations, and as sponsored for state funding by a nonprofit that the state claims ‘knowingly defrauded’ Minnesota to the tune of $18 million.”

Somali residents make up approximately 8% of St. Cloud’s total population, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune, representing the third-highest concentration of Somali residents in Minnesota behind Minneapolis and St. Paul.

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Fox News paid a visit to Blooming Kids Child Care Center on Thursday and found “a quiet scene.”

“The childcare center is situated along a main road in St. Cloud’s small downtown. A paper sign on a wooden front door that faces the street directs visitors to a different entrance. The floor-to-ceiling glass windows next to the door are covered with a tinted and mirrored film,” the network reported. “The building is flanked by a parking lot that was mostly empty on Thursday afternoon.”

There’s a small, empty fenced-in playground behind the building, and Alpha News recently reported that a nearby worker said they never saw children entering or exiting the childcare facility.

Adding insult to injury, there are questions about the immigration status of Daisane’s wife, who, according to Fox News, reportedly spoke to the BBC about crossing into the United States at the southern border.

It’s reports like this that make it difficult for hard-working U.S. taxpayers to NOT feel as if they’ve lost their country. For all the talk from the Trump administration about fighting fraud, appearances suggest that it is thriving at epidemic levels.

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Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on X:

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Tom Tillison
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