Minnesota-funded daycare businesses donated to Washington candidate who threatened to blow up school bus filled with children

A Somali candidate for King County Council in Washington state, who previously threatened to blow up a school bus full of children and was later arrested for allegedly assaulting parents at a school drop-off, received campaign donations from daycare businesses in Minnesota. The donations to King County Council candidate Ubax Gardheere, who is of Somali descent, are drawing attention amid a viral investigative report by independent journalist Nick Shirley, who alleges widespread fraud involving Somali-run daycare facilities in Minnesota.

Shirley reported that many of the daycares receiving millions in taxpayer funds appear to have no students enrolled—this after visiting them and finding empty storefronts. In one example, Shirley visited the Quality Learning Center in Minneapolis, a facility reportedly receiving $4 million in public funding. He found a misspelled sign reading “Quality Learing Center,” a largely empty parking lot, and no indication that children were present.

These daycare centers are government funded under a Minnesota program called the Child Care Assistance Program. Republican lawmakers have since called for Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be “held accountable,” citing the growing scrutiny over the scale of alleged fraud linked to childcare funding in the state.

According to an analysis of Washington Public Disclosure Commission records, several Minnesota childcare providers donated to the campaign of the controversial candidate:

• Lucky Child Care Center LLC (Minneapolis) — $2,000
• Sunshine Childcare Center Inc — $1,000
• MN Best Childcare Center Inc — $1,000

Adult care facilities also contributed:

• Adult Care LLC — $1,300
• A Helping Hand Senior Care Services LLC — $500

At the time, the Somali immigrant was the Director of the Equitable Development Division in the City of Seattle's Office of Planning and Community Development, earning over $130,000 a year and calling herself a "bureactivist inside government." The out-of-state donations raised questions about why daycares and senior care centers in Minnesota were investing in a county-level election in Washington, and how such facilities had surplus funds available for political contributions, particularly for a candidate with a history of serious criminal allegations.

On January 12, 2010, Ubax Gardheere boarded a school bus filled with children as it prepared to begin its morning route to Chinook Middle School. According to reports, she told the driver the bus could not leave and was captured on the bus’s internal camera screaming at children that she could have a bomb or a gun and they wouldn’t know. As the children fled through the emergency exits, Gardheere reportedly yelled that they were cowards and that she was “prepared to die,” a concept revered in Islam. Police arrived and arrested her.

Despite the widely publicized incident, Gardheere ran for King County Council in 2021. After footage of the bus incident was obtained and published by The Post Millennial, several progressive elected officials continued to endorse her, including Democratic State Senator Rebecca Saldana, former Seattle City Council member and activist Mike O’Brien, and then–Seattle City Council member Tammy Morales. Morales and Saldana continued to support Gardheere even after the story went viral, as did Redmond City Council member Varisha Khan.

Gardheere also received support from left-wing organizations, including the local SEIU and the Transit Riders Union, an activist group with a bus in its logo. At the time, the Transit Riders Union was led by General Secretary Katie Wilson, now Seattle’s socialist mayor-elect.

Gardheere’s legal troubles did not end there. After losing in the 2021 primary, she was arrested for allegedly assaulting a parent picking up children at a local school while yelling “Black Lives Matter” and “Free Palestine.” Then, shortly after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people, injuring thousands, and kidnapping over 250, Bellevue Police responded to a report of a disturbance at Tillicum Middle School.

Parents had reported a tall woman wearing a hijab causing disruptions in the drop-off area. A parent and her sons were holding signs opposing the closure of the school when Gardheere allegedly grabbed a child’s sign while shouting “Free Palestine” and “Black Lives Matter.” She then walked toward a man in his car, dropping off his children. Bystanders recorded her standing in front of his vehicle while holding the sign and appearing highly agitated.

According to the victim, Gardheere, while yelling, referenced children dying overseas, suggesting the US was “killing children.” He rolled down his window and told her he understood the issue, but asked her to move so he could leave. Gardheere allegedly dropped the sign and began pounding on the hood of the car with both fists. When the victim opened his door and stepped out to tell her to stop, police say Gardheere rushed him and bumped him with her body. The victim said he believed she was pregnant, which led him to raise his hands in a non-threatening manner

Police allege Gardheere then grabbed the collar of his jacket, pulled him, and scratched the left side of his neck. She continued pushing and pulling him across the drop-off lane until the victim pushed her away. As he returned to his vehicle, Gardheere allegedly moved toward the open driver-side door and attempted to sit in the driver’s seat.