Ilhan Omer Wins Minnesota Democratic Primary Against Don Samuels (image @IlhanMN)
Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Congresswoman, has won her primary race in Minnesota. She is an inaugural member of the progressive House known as “Squad” in the House of Representatives. She beats a primary challenger, after two of her fellow left-wing members were defeated in recent weeks.
Omar defended her Minneapolis-area 5th District seat against a repeat challenge from former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels, a more centrist liberal whom she only narrowly defeated in the 2022 primary.
Omar is a fierce critic of how Israel has conducted the war in Gaza. She is also a strong critiques of US foreign policy around issues including Israel and Saudi Arabia. She is a third-term congresswoman of Somali-American heritage, and has made history in Congress as the first elected member to wear a religious headscarf on the chamber floor.
Omar was leading with 56.2 percent, with the 216 of 217 precincts reporting results, as per Minnesota Secretary of State tallies.
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Don Samuels, a former Minneapolis city councilman, ran his second AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) backed campaign against Omar, after he lost by just a few thousand votes to the incumbent congresswoman in the last cycle.
Samuels raised large amounts from out-of-state donors and pro-Israel sources while appearing for interviews in conservative media in 2022.
He criticised Omar’s condemnation of the Israel’s handling of war on Gaza. Though she has also criticised the Palestinian group Hamas for attacking Israel and taking captives, Samuels has accused her of being one-sided and divisive.
His defeat on Tuesday came despite a call from a controversial Senate candidate endorsed by the state Republican Party chapter calling on his own supporters to cross party lines and vote in the Democratic primary in the hopes of unseating Omar.
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Samuels was “very disappointed” with his loss.
Omar said she is “honoured that my community voted to *send me back to Congress*. Tonight’s victory shows that the Fifth District believes in the collective values we are fighting for in Washington”.
I am honored that my community voted to *send me back to Congress*. Tonight’s victory shows that the Fifth District believes in the collective values we are fighting for in Washington. pic.twitter.com/DwcRVI55fQ
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) August 14, 2024
The progressive congresswoman and her allies spent much of the primary campaign railing against the outside influence of AIPAC, a major pro-Israel political organization, which they have accused of bankrolling primary challenges against mostly Black and minority congressional candidates while using donations from Republican-aligned donors to do so, said media report.
Her victory comes after the defeat of two incumbent “Squad” members, Jamaal Bowman in New York and Cori Bush in Missouri. Like Omar, the two are vocal critics of Israel and faced AIPAC-backed opponents. Reportedly, they also had other specific vulnerabilities in their districts which contributed to their respective losses.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another “Squad” member, survived a primary challenge by a comfortable margin in June. Two other members, Representatives Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, went unchallenged in their respective races.
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Once there were nine representatives, who were considered to be part of the “Squad”. However, recently, the Democratic Party backed away from some of more left-wing causes such as providing government-backed healthcare for all Americans or defunding the police – the issue that rose to prominence in the primaries leading up to Biden’s 2020 nomination.
Ilhan Omar came to US as a refugee from Somalia. She describes her politics as “visionary, bold and loud”. She says she has delivered millions of dollars in federal funds for community development in her district.
She once faced criticism for her anti-Jewish remarks. the House Republicans in 2023 voted to remove her from the Foreign Affairs Committee over her 2019 social media post which suggested that Israel’s supporters were motivated by money rather than principle. Omar has apologised for that post.
