Explosive sleeper issue could fuel midterm shakeups, top Republican predicts: ‘You’re gonna see surprises’

LEWISTON, MAINE - With just about a month left until the midterm elections, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) told Fox News Digital that fraud is an issue motivating voters to the polls, and in Minnesota, his home state, he thinks the issue could yield some "surprises" at the ballot box.

"Fraud is a lot more important to the U.S. taxpayers than being a Republican or a Democrat," Emmer said. "People want good government. They want to know that they're paying for good government, that they are not having their hard-earned taxpayer dollars being siphoned off and stolen and sent out of the country. They're also asking, why hasn't anyone called this out and held these people accountable? And I think you're going to see that at the ballot box on November 3."

Emmer, the House Majority Whip, was in Maine with Republican House candidate Paul LePage, the first stop of his planned 56-district nationwide blitz across the United States, rallying voters for Republicans as the party tries to hold on their razor-thin majority in the House against daunting historical and political headwinds.

Emmer’s home state of Minnesota was the epicenter of fraud’s explosion into the national conversation late last year, prompting Gov. Tim Walz to abandon his re-election bid. Emmer expressed optimism that Republicans in Minnesota will resonate with voters on fraud in a state where a Republican hasn’t won a statewide election since 2006.

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"Fraud in Minnesota is the number one issue," Emmer said. "We've got a completely incompetent, I would argue corrupt in some instances, governor and an attorney general who took campaign funds from Somali fraudsters that he was actively trying to protect from getting caught in their fraud. This is a big deal for Minnesotans."

Emmer said voters are looking for an "honest system that actually works for the people" and not "the criminals" and the Republican candidates for Senate, governor, attorney general and auditor in Minnesota have all made fighting fraud a central issue of their campaigns.

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"You easily could have Michelle Tafoya being the next U.S. Senator from the state of Minnesota, a Republican, you could have Lisa Demuth as the Republican governor and already, the attorney general candidate, Ron Schutz and the state auditor candidate Scott Jensen, the polling showing that they are leading," Emmer said. "So yes, Minnesota is going to be one of those places where you see surprises. I think you're gonna see surprises in Michigan as well and other places all across the country."

Emmer sat down for a roundtable discussion on fraud with LePage, Maine’s former governor running for Congress in the state’s 2nd Congressional District, where the Minnesota Republican railed against the lack of accountability for fraud in his home state.

"They need to be held accountable and that's the one thing that's missing again in Minnesota. You've got all of these fraudsters being charged and convicted, not one public official has been charged at all, and that's got to change, and I hope it changes in Maine and other places, because it's high time that people be held accountable for ripping off the generous American people," Emmer told the panel.

The Trump administration has made combating fraud a central focus this year, creating a Justice Department Fraud Division and a White House task force led by Vice President JD Vance. The White House says the task force has uncovered roughly $245.7 billion in fraud since its creation, while also stopping an additional $62.9 billion annually and enforcing $59.1 billion through criminal charges, settlements and penalties.