Minnesota voters on Tuesday elected a Somali daycare owner whose center has collected $7.29 million from the state childcare subsidy program at the heart of last winter’s viral fraud scandal.
Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) candidate Abdi Daisane, a Somali American who came to the US more than 15 years ago, won House District 14A with about 52% of the vote, beating Republican Mike Conway, the St. Cloud City Council president, and flipping a Republican-held seat, MPR News reported. He becomes St. Cloud’s first Somali American state lawmaker. Daisane lost the same race in 2024 to Republican Rep. Bernie Perryman, who ran for the state Senate this year instead.
Daisane gave part of his victory speech in Somali.
Daisane launched his second run for the seat on Christmas Eve 2025, the New York Post reported at the time. Two days later, YouTuber Nick Shirley posted his video tour of seemingly empty Somali-linked daycares – drawing more than 131 million views on X in five days, and FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau had surged agents and resources to Minnesota as the Trump administration froze childcare funding to the state. Days before Tuesday’s election, the Justice Department uncovered another $29 million in Minnesota benefits fraud.
Daisane hasn’t been charged with anything, and we found no sign his center appeared in Shirley’s videos.