Ilhan Omar Wins Fifth Term With 76.5% of the Vote as Federal Immigration Probe Continues

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., won a fifth term Tuesday, Nov. 3, in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District, and the Associated Press called the race for her.

With more than 99 percent of the 344,118 votes counted as of Wednesday morning, Nov. 4, Omar had 263,166 votes, or 76.5 percent. Republican John Nagel, a former Minnesota State Patrol trooper, had 55,805, or 16.2 percent. Independent DeVelle Jackson took 24,215, about 7 percent.

That is a margin of roughly 60 points in the most Democratic district in the country.

How the numbers compare

Omar's share is her highest since her first House race in 2018, when she took 78 percent. She won 74.4 percent in 2024, 74.3 percent in 2022 and 64.3 percent in 2020, when a Legal Marijuana Now candidate drew 9.5 percent.

The district covers Minneapolis and its inner-ring suburbs. Omar has held the seat since January 2019. She won the DFL endorsement in May and beat four challengers in the August primary.

Nagel ran on tighter fraud controls, border security technology, a strong national defense, and changes to the Affordable Care Act while protecting Medicare and Medicaid.

The investigation

Homeland Security Investigations agents searched Omar's Washington, D.C., home on Oct. 12. A Justice Department spokesperson said HSI executed a judicially authorized search in the D.C. area that day.

The New York Times, citing people familiar with the warrant, reported that it lists several potential immigration offenses: false statements, fraud in immigration paperwork and a general conspiracy charge. The warrant itself has not been made public.

Fox News Digital reported that investigators are examining whether Omar or her father lied on immigration paperwork tied to her citizenship. Omar's family arrived in the U.S. as Somali refugees in the 1990s, and she became a citizen in 2000. Fox also reported that HSI took her phone, passport and computer and obtained her DNA, and that her sister, Sahra Noor, voluntarily spoke with federal investigators after the search. Fox cited unnamed sources for some of those details.

Fox further reported that court filings from the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. refer to her as "Ilhan Omar Nur Said Elmi, a/k/a Ilhan Omar." Omar married Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, a British citizen, in 2009. Fox reported that a separate probe is examining her financial disclosures.

No charges have been filed. Omar has denied wrongdoing, and her attorney has called the investigation politically motivated.

What each side says

Omar calls the search an "outrageous abuse of power and an unprecedented escalation in the weaponization of federal law enforcement to target political enemies." She told The Nation that "Trump has an unhealthy and creepy obsession with me." Trump has long attacked her. He has said she should "go back" to her home country, called her "garbage" and said she should be investigated.

On the other side, longtime claims that Elmi is her brother, which she has denied, were examined by a federal investigation opened in 2016 under President Obama. A source told Fox News Digital it was closed in 2021 under President Biden. Attorney Julian Epstein, appearing on Fox News, cited that history to argue the probe is not a partisan creation. Fox also reported that some House Democrats declined to back an effort to end the immigration inquiry.

Those are competing accounts of motive. Neither has been tested in court, because no case has been brought.

What the vote does and does not decide

The election result is a clean political fact. Voters in a district that has handed Omar large majorities since 2018 gave her a bigger one after the search. In her statement she thanked supporters and credited Minnesota with showing "the antidote to Trump's fascism is love, solidarity, and community." She also pointed to the state's response to Operation Metro Surge earlier this year.

The vote does not answer the legal questions. Whether paperwork filed for Omar as a child, or at her naturalization, contained false statements is a matter for prosecutors and, if charges come, a court. A 76 percent win is not a legal finding either way. Nor is an unproven allegation or an open investigation.

Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek an indictment. Her phone, passport and computer, per Fox's reporting, remain in federal hands. If the Justice Department brings charges, they would come against a sitting member of Congress just as the new Congress prepares to be seated in January.