Tom Emmer's North Star: Whatever's Politically Expedient [OPINION]

By Chad Maschke, Minnesota Reformer

March 23, 2026

It was June 2022 when Tom Emmer wrote to then-Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg requesting federal funding for Highway 65 in Anoka County. “This grant also strives to serve as a social justice measure,” he wrote. “The completion of this project means improved economic opportunities for ethnically underserved communities.”

Fast forward to December 2025, when Emmer, now GOP Majority Whip, issued a much different statement about those underserved communities: “I have three words regarding Somalis who have committed fraud against American taxpayers: Send them home.”

Same man. Same district. The distance covered by one man in three and a half years is the subject of this piece.

On November 5, 2021, the House passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Yes, Bipartisan. Emmer voted no. His statement called it “President Biden’s multi-trillion dollar socialist wish list.” The law sent approximately $4.8 billion to Minnesota over five years for roads, bridges, water and sewer infrastructure — the exact projects Emmer would later take credit for in press releases and news conferences.

Seven months after that vote, Emmer wrote to Buttigieg. The letter, obtained by CNN through a public records request, called Highway 65 “a critical corridor of commerce” and argued the grant would reduce barriers to “economic prosperity for so many living in and around the area.” Highway 65 has been a sore point for Blaine residents for decades — and the corridor was finally getting funded through the law Emmer voted against.

As a resident of Blaine, I can tell you it’s a road I try my best to avoid during rush hour, during the 3M Open, and during USA Cup, all events that bring major revenue to the city and its residents. The letter took no ownership of his vote against the bill from which he was now requesting funding.

When the letter became public, Emmer didn’t get attacked by Democrats. He was attacked by his own party. Donald Trump Jr. said Emmer “agrees with Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg that our highways are racist.” A GOP aide added that Emmer “has a lot more in common with Pete Buttigieg than your average Republican voter.” Emmer’s office responded by telling the Daily Caller: “Rep. Emmer strongly opposes Democrats’ woke social justice agenda. It’s a shame that the Biden administration has demanded it as a requirement for basic highway funding.”

This grant also strives to serve as a social justice measure. The completion of this project means improved economic opportunities for ethnically underserved communities.

– U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer

His defense was that he didn’t mean what he wrote. He was willing to tell Buttigieg one thing to get the funding. But when it came out and he faced backlash, he wasn’t willing to stand by his own words.

That didn’t stop Emmer from continuing to take the money. In FY2023, Highway 65 received $20 million through a RAISE grant — a program significantly expanded under the infrastructure law Emmer voted against. He secured an additional $4 million in FY2024 and $7 million more announced just this month — part of $43 million for MN-06 that day. At a May 2024 press conference in Blaine, standing in front of the highway funded largely through programs he’d voted against, Emmer told reporters: “This is what your federal government’s supposed to do.”

Since voting against the infrastructure law, Emmer has claimed credit for over $100 million in projects for MN-06. Not one of his press releases mentions that he did not support the law that made much of this possible.

That would be enough of a contradiction on its own. But the Buttigieg letter adds another layer. Anoka County has the largest Somali population in Emmer’s district. The north metro corridor Highway 65 runs through is one of the fastest-diversifying areas in the state. When Emmer wrote about “ethnically underserved communities,” he was describing a demographic reality that includes the people he is now targeting.

In 2015, Emmer co-founded the Congressional Somalia Caucus with Rep. Keith Ellison to advocate for Somali-American communities. At a town hall in St. Cloud that same year, when constituents demanded he stop Somali immigration, he pushed back: “You don’t get to slam the gate behind you and tell nobody else that they’re welcome.” He called Somalis “some of the fastest-assimilating populations.” That exchange, reported by the public radio program “This American Life,” is what prompted at least one Somali refugee in St. Cloud to vote for him.

By December 2025, the Somali community was no longer an asset in a grant application. They were a target on Fox News and in legislation. “Send them home. If they’re here illegally, deport them immediately; if they’re naturalized citizens, revoke their citizenship,” Emmer said. In January, he introduced the SCAM Act to make denaturalization easier. At a March 4 hearing, he framed the Somali community’s political participation itself as evidence of corruption.

The “ethnically underserved” morphed into “Somali fraudsters.” The only thing that changed was what Emmer needed from them.

This isn’t one contradiction. It’s a pattern. His vote didn’t predict his requests. His written words didn’t reflect his beliefs. His characterization of communities shifted based on political utility. Each could be explained away individually. Together, they describe a representative whose public statements are not a reliable guide to what he will do, what he believes, or how he regards the people he represents.

The Minnesota Reformer is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping Minnesotans informed and unearthing stories other outlets can’t or won’t tell..