Rep. Ilhan Omar marries political consultant Tim Mynett

The Minnesota congresswoman announced the marriage Wednesday on Instagram.

March 12, 2020 at 10:45AM
Instagram photo: Rep. Ilhan Omar announced Wednesday night that she and Tim Mynett have married.
Ilhan Omar announced Wednesday on Instagram that she and Tim Mynett have married. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Minnesota U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar announced Wednesday that she has married Tim Mynett, a political consultant she has worked with and been romantically linked to.

Omar announced their marriage in an Instagram post that did not name Mynett. The Minneapolis Democrat finalized her divorce from husband Ahmed Hirsi in November, several months after Mynett's wife, a Washington, D.C., physician, alleged in court filings that he left her after becoming romantically involved with Omar. Mynett and his wife have also since finalized their divorce.

Both Omar and Mynett had denied having an affair.

"Got married! From partners in politics to life partners, so blessed," Omar's Instagram post said. A spokesman for Omar said the two also married in the Islamic faith.

Allegations of a relationship between Omar and Mynett swirled last year and brought much scrutiny on the freshman congresswoman. Her relationship with Mynett is at the center of a Federal Election Commission complaint alleging that money Omar's campaign committee paid to Mynett and his firm for travel expenses were for personal use.

Omar's campaign paid Mynett's company, E Street Group, more than $500,000 last year for consulting, advertising, fundraising and travel.

Omar's marital history also came under political fire last year after it came to light that she and Hirsi filed taxes jointly while she was legally married to another man, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. She married Elmi during what she described as an impasse in her relationship with Hirsi. The marriage with Elmi legally ended in 2017, several years after she reunited and had a third child with Hirsi.

Omar corrected the tax violation but never explained it.

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about the writer

Ryan Faircloth

Politics and government reporter

Ryan Faircloth covers Minnesota politics and government for the Star Tribune.

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