Ilhan Omar, a Democratic US Representative and member of the progressive House group known as the “Squad,” has emerged victorious in her primary race in Minnesota. Omar has been a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Omar has emerged victorious in her bid to retain her Minneapolis-area 5th District seat, fending off a familiar opponent in former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels. Despite a close contest in the 2022 primary, Omar has once again secured her position as the representative of the district.
Ilhan Omar avoided the fate of two fellow Squad members. Rep. Cori Bush lost the Democratic nomination in her Missouri district last week, and Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York lost his primary in June. Both faced well-funded challengers and millions of dollars in spending by the United Democracy Project, a super political action committee affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which appeared to sit out the Minnesota race.
Don Samuels had criticized Ilhan Omar’s condemnation of the Israeli government’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. While Ilhan Omar has also criticized Hamas for attacking Israel and taking hostages, Samuels said she’s one-sided and divisive. He also stressed public safety issues in Minneapolis, where a former police officer murdered George Floyd in 2020.
Conservative populist and former NBA player Royce White defeated Navy veteran Joe Fraser in Minnesota’s primary election for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic US Sen. Amy Klobuchar in November.
Former federal prosecutor Joe Teirab also won a contested GOP primary for Minnesota’s 2nd District seat held by Democratic Rep. Angie Craig.
Teirab has the support of former President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and the National Republican Congressional Committee.
His opponent, defense attorney Tayler Rahm, won the endorsement at the district convention with support from grassroots conservatives.
While Rahm announced in July that he was suspending his campaign and would instead serve as a senior adviser for Trump’s Minnesota campaign, he remained on the ballot.
Teirab will face Craig in what’s expected to be Minnesota’s most competitive House race in November.
Craig issued a statement following Teirab’s win calling him “a guy who recently moved to the district because he saw a political opportunity.”
“He’s a guy who has spent months doing anything to win the support of Washington Republicans,” Craig said. “And he’s a guy who has made it his life’s mission to take away reproductive freedoms from families and give those decisions to politicians.”
Ilhan Omar — a Somali American and Muslim — came under fire from the Jamaican-born Samuels and others in her first term for comments that were widely criticized for invoking antisemitic tropes and suggesting Jewish Americans have divided loyalties. This time, Samuels has criticized her condemnation of the Israeli government’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
While Omar has also criticized Hamas for attacking Israel and taking hostages, Samuels says she’s one-sided and divisive. He’s also been stressing the public safety issues he focused on in 2022. The big issue at the time was policing in Minneapolis, where a former police officer murdered George Floyd in 2020.
Ilhan Omar will face Republican Dalia Al-Aqidi, an Iraqi American journalist and self-described secular Muslim who calls Omar pro-Hamas and a terrorist sympathizer.
With reports from AP
