Minnesota Threatens Aid To Cities That Won’t Fly New Somali-Themed State Flag

All the rampant fraud and incompetence on display in Minnesota has made the state’s controversial flag redesign seem trivial by comparison.

But now state leaders are determined to bring the topic back to the forefront by threatening to withhold state aid to cities that prefer to display the prior flag.

Although some critics said the previous design was insensitive to Native Americans, the current design has faced its own harsh backlash due to its close resemblance to Somalia’s national flag.

Fox News covered the latest development:

Members of Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) party pushed legislation Mondayto reduce state aid to a county or city that “flies or otherwise makes use of a state flag other than the design of the state flag as certified in the report of the State Emblems Redesign Commission.”

If passed, the bill would go into effect in 2027.

Fox News Digital reached out to Minnesota state House members and the speaker of the House for comment.

The bill followed several cities and communities in recent years voting in favor of returning to the original state flag, which was adopted in 1893. On the same day the bill was introduced, the Inver Grove Heights City Council voted to join Elk River, Champlin, Zumbrota and Plainview in flying the original flag on city buildings.

The State Emblems Redesign Commission voted 11-1 to approve a new flag design in 2023 after critics argued the original flag image was considered racist to Native Americans.

Backlash over the redesigned flag, however, was swift and has remained consistent:

Waltz changed the flag to resemble the flag of Somalia so he could get votes from all the illegal Somalis. The vast majority of LEGAL Minnesotans want THEIR old flag back. pic.twitter.com/IammaNpDar

— Seahorse (@ShakesandBerry) April 29, 2026

Still hilarious to me that Minnesota Democrats were so obsessed with racial virtue-signaling that they changed their state flag to a cheap knock-off of the Somali flag. https://t.co/y0FME0h8qa

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) April 27, 2026

MPR News provided coverage of one municipality that moved to put the old flag on display:

The City Council voted 3-2 to make the change during a Monday night meeting, after a lengthy public hearing and debate.

ADVERTISEMENT

Council member Sue Gliva said the old flag, based on an 1892 design and updated in 1983, is a nod to the state’s past.

“I think it’s very important, even symbolically, to represent the flag that I feel represents our history,” Gliva said.

That history sparked debate over the flag. The old flag was retired in 2024 after a state process selected a new one, based on input and design suggestions from the public. The old flag bore the state’s former seal: an image of a farmer, and a Native man on horseback riding into the distance. Historians said that represented the incoming white settlers and the ousting of Native peoples. Critics and civil rights advocates have long called for a change to that imagery on the state’s emblems.

Writing for Fox News, David Marcus made the case against those who seek to portray the similarities between the two flags as a mere coincidence:

See how this works? In a state with the nation’s largest Somali population, the Democrats adopted a new state flag that obviously looks like Somali flags, several of which include almost every detail, from color scheme to chevron. But if you notice you are spreading “misinformation.”

Are we honestly supposed to believe that throughout the entire process of picking the flag nobody noticed that it looks remarkably similar to the Somali flag that Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey regularly waves around while dancing on stage?

You can’t walk six blocks in the Twin Cities without seeing Somali flags, on murals and in shop windows. It is everywhere.

The thought that nobody saw this obvious connection, that it simply never occurred to anyone except racists looking for trouble not only strains credulity, it runs it through a high-powered shredder.

ADVERTISEMENT

Here’s some more coverage of the statewide trend: