Omar's GOP challenger comes out firing with vow to clean up 'mess' in deep blue district: 'People are fed up'

MINNEAPOLIS — Rep.

Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., officially has a Republican challenger who is making the case that Minnesota voters are "fed up" with fraud and dysfunction and are ready for a change as he looks to unseat Omar in one of the country's most closely watched progressive strongholds.

John Nagel, a Minnesota native who spent 30 years as a state trooper, told Fox News Digital in an interview that he believes his background gives him a unique opportunity to make the case against Omar in Minnesota's deep-blue 5th Congressional District.

"I think the people of Minnesota have been lied to.

They've had their money stolen.

They want to see somebody that's going to come in and fix things," Nagel said.

"They're tired of being told the same old things." Nagel argued that his roots in the state and decades in law enforcement separate him from the political class.

ILHAN OMAR ON TRACK FOR FIFTH TERM AS MINNESOTA VOTERS MAINTAIN FAR-LEFT STREAK "I'm from Minnesota, born and raised here.

I'm not a Washington plant," Nagel said, pointing to his three decades as a state trooper and his work teaching defensive driving and working in schools across the area.

Nagel, who won the Republican primary in Minnesota's 5th District last week, said his campaign will focus heavily on the fraud scandals that have rocked Minnesota in recent years, drawing a sharp contrast with Omar and Democrats in the state.

"I'm pro-American.

I'm from Minnesota.

I love Minnesota and I love my country," Nagel said when asked about the contrast he plans to draw with Omar.

"I'm not involved in fraud," he added, before arguing that Omar's district has been at the center of the state's fraud problems and Fox News Digital has extensively reported on Omar’s ties to those implicated in the scandal.