Minnesota Dem Senate candidate faces call from opponent to apologize over viral 'pandering' hijab video

"They just are pandering to political constituencies, and they're not doing the job that they were elected to do."

In the video, which was widely criticized by conservatives on social media last week, Flanagan can be seen donning a hijab while talking to Somali constituents.

"Salam alaikum," Flanagan says in the video giving an Arabic greeting before saying, "The Somali community is part of the fabric of the state of Minnesota."

"I am here shopping today and just encouraging other folks to show up, support our Somali businesses, support our immigrant neighbors, and I know that things are scary right now," Flanagan added in the video that was aired on Somali TV.

"Being part of Minnesota and growing up here, the Somali community has always been a part of my Minnesota," Flanagan added, while telling residents to "show up and support our Somali businesses and our immigrant neighbors."

 "We've got your back," Flanagan said. 

Hann told Fox News Digital that Flanagan should apologize for and retract the video.

"They did not do their duty out of concern that they would offend a political constituency," Hann said. "So they haven't done anything to take responsibility for what the public expects them to do. So yes, she should apologize."

"She certainly should not be sent to Washington to oversee federal dollars being spent. But it's emblematic of the way Democrats have governed in this state. They like to posture, they like to tell people how compassionate they are. They tell us our high taxes are helping people, but they really haven't demonstrated a concern for helping people. They're more interested in just spending."

"The Somali voting block is significant in the Minneapolis area, of course, and they're concerned about that," Hann told Fox News Digital. "And yes, I've seen those reports as well, that there were concerns about how this would appear. Most of the fraud was conducted by Somalis who put up these shell companies and looted the public treasury and I think the Democrats were concerned that if they went after that, they would appear to be picking on the Somali community when, in fact, they needed to enforce the law."

"I think every community wants to see the laws enforced and people in Minnesota want to see laws enforced. And this is why this is so terrible. They are just failing to do the duty that they were elected to do."

"While the Lt. Governor was showing her support for small businesses and communities being terrorized by ICE, she was handed a scarf by a friend and briefly wore it out of respect," Fetissoff said. "The real outrage should not be a scarf, but masked men throwing American citizens into vans and violating the constitution."

Flanagan's team also clarified that while many on social media have claimed she said Somalis "built" Minnesota, "she does not say that in the video."

If elected to the Senate, Hann told Fox News Digital he would push for more "safeguards."

"But I think we should also be looking at, how can we reform the whole welfare establishment?" Hann explained. 

"Are there better ways to help people? We should be more concerned about trying to make sure people's lives are improved, rather than just spending money. It seems to me that the Waltz administration has been focused on just handing out money, Democrats in Washington just hand out the money and no accountability and no attempt to figure out the effectiveness of the programs that we have, we need to take a hard look at that."

Fox News Digital's Preston Mizell contributed to this report.