Minnesota Democrat, Ilhan Omar has won a fifth term in the United States House of Representatives.

She defeated Republican challenger, John Nagel in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District in Tuesday’s midterm elections. The district, which covers Minneapolis and surrounding areas, is one of the most reliably Democratic seats in the country, and Omar had been widely expected to win.

The Associated Press has called the race, and media outlets including CBS News also projected her victory.

Her re-election came while a federal criminal investigation into her remains unresolved.

In early October, agents from the Department of Homeland Security searched her home in Washington, D.C., just weeks before voters went to the polls. The Department of Justice said the search was part of a criminal investigation.

Some federal officials have said the probe concerns her immigration history, citing unproven claims that she entered a fraudulent marriage to help someone obtain legal status in the United States and that her father lied about her age in citizenship applications. No charges have been filed against her.

Omar has denied any wrongdoing and described the investigation as an intimidation tactic by President Donald Trump, whom she regularly criticises.

Trump has often hit back, including with calls for her to return to Somalia, her country of birth. Some legal experts have said the timing of the search, so close to the election, ran against the Justice Department’s usual practice in cases involving elected officials. Others have raised concern over the possibility of an attempt to strip her of citizenship, which they described as unprecedented against a sitting lawmaker.

In recent court filings, government lawyers said investigators have not finished carrying out the search warrant and that any charges would come only after that is complete.

Nagel, a retired Minnesota state trooper with about 30 years of service, won the Republican primary and built his campaign around the fraud scandals that have rocked the state in recent years. He pitched his law enforcement background as a contrast to Omar. Omar entered the general election in a strong position after winning the Democratic primary in August with more than 80 per cent of the vote against four challengers.

Omar was first elected in 2018, when she became one of the first Muslim Americans and the first Somali American in Congress.

After her latest win, she vowed to keep speaking out against Trump and said she would not allow him to silence her. She returns to Washington as the federal investigation continues.