Remember hatemonger Ron Branstner, who’s been out stoking Trumpist racism and wild conspiracy theories around rural America for over a decade?
Look what all of his fascist bushwah has won him in St. Cloud, Minnesota: an all-DFL Legislative delegation with a Somali-American candidate who flipped a Republican seat:
Voters in the politically divided St. Cloud area are sending three DFLers to the Minnesota Capitol next year, including the region’s first Somali American legislator.
DFLer Abdi Daisane won the House District 14A seat, flipping a seat that had been represented by a Republican. He ran unsuccessfully for the same seat in 2024, but lost to state Rep. Bernie Perryman.
Daisane is a small business owner who came to the U.S. more than 15 years ago. He defeated Republican Mike Conway, the current St. Cloud City Council president, with about 52 percent of the vote [Kristi Marohn, “Daisane Elected St. Cloud’s First Somali American State Lawmaker,” MPR News, 2026.11.04].
Note to South Dakota Democrats: Daisane, a black Somali refugee and daycare operator, beat a white corporate establishment Republican in a conservative legislative district with persistence and hard work:
Daisane said his upset victory was largely possible because his outreach efforts began before the 2026 election cycle started.
“Consistency, showing up for the people and just making sure that you’re not just showing up during elections,” Daisane said. “When I lost in the last election, I didn’t just disappear. Like, I stayed in the community. I continue talking to people. I continue having conversations. I continue showing up to community events” [link added; Jack O’Connor, “Daisane to Make History as 1st Somali American to Represent Central Minnesota,” St. Cloud Live, 2026.11.05].
…and some help from Trump’s murderous thugs:
While Operation Metro Surge primarily targeted the Twin Cities area, Daisane said he felt its effects on the campaign trail. He added that the lingering impact of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids gave residents a greater sense of “urgency” to vote and participate politically [O’Connor, 2026.11.05].
While Trump’s Gestapo terrorized Daisane and the other 18% of his district’s population that comes from other countries, Daisane spoke out fearlessly against the fascism he thought he’d left behind:
Early on after resettling in the U.S. in 2009, Abdi Daisane talked to family members abroad about a welcome difference in his new country.
Unlike in the Kenyan refugee camp where he and his family fled to from Somalia, he didn’t need to carry immigration documents around all the time. He didn’t feel like he lived on a border patrolled by agents who could demand his papers because of how he looked. He didn’t live in fear of being indefinitely detained.
Over the last two months, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents surged into Minnesota, Daisane felt an erosion of that sense of security he had once excitedly told his loved ones about.
“Now it’s a bit different,” said the St. Cloud man, who is running for an open state House seat this year. “I had to intentionally carry my documents, my passport. For someone who’s been in this country for 17-plus years now, carrying your documentation is just crazy to think about.”
…Daisane isn’t sure when the feeling of being on edge will fade away. His hope is that it doesn’t become a permanent fixture of life.
“If you get used to things, then you’re gonna end up adapting differently,” he said.
Justice would go a long way toward keeping what should be an extreme from feeling normal, he added.
“ICE came and terrorized our communities, violated our civil liberties, killed Minnesotans,” he said. “Two Minnesotans died because of them, and if we don’t hold them accountable, that’s going to send a message that the federal government can do whatever they please to the citizens of this country, to the residents of this country, and get away with it” [Brian Arola, “For Somalis in St. Cloud, ICE’s Surge Eroded Years of Hard-Earned Trust,” MinnPost, 2026.02.24].
The 2026 midterm election shows that, yes, Ron, we will replace you, all the way down to rural Minnesota, with new Americans who uphold the fundamental American tenet that we need a pluribus to build an unum.
What a great American story.