Omar defeated former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels in primary for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district.
Democratic United States Representative Ilhan Omar, one of the progressive House members known as the “Squad” and an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, has won her primary race in Minnesota.
Omar, 41, successfully defended her Minneapolis-area 5th district seat against a repeat challenge from former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels.
Speaking to supporters in Minneapolis, Omar echoed some of the themes of Democratic Party nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.
“We run the politics of joy,” she said on Tuesday. “Because we know it is joyful to fight for your neighbours. We know it is joyful to make sure housing is a human right. We know it is joyful to fight for healthcare to be a human right. We know it is joyful to want to live in a peaceful and equitable world.”
With 216 of 217 precincts reporting results, Omar had 56.2 percent, compared with 42.9 percent for Samuels, according to Minnesota Secretary of State tallies.
Samuels had criticised Omar’s condemnation of the Israeli government’s handling of the war on Gaza. While Omar has also criticised the Palestinian group Hamas for attacking Israel and taking captives, Samuels has accused her of being one-sided and divisive. He also stressed public safety issues in Minneapolis where a former police officer murdered Black man George Floyd in 2020.
Samuels said he was “very disappointed” with his loss.
“What I was hoping is that a strong ground game and an attention to the details of folks who felt left out would trump an overwhelming superiority in dollars,” he said in an interview. “Clearly, money matters a little more in politics than I had hoped.”
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
Bowman and Bush’s primary losses shrink Squad’s ranks
Other “Squad” members Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri have lost their party primaries over the past few months against opponents who had won substantial support from the pro-Israel fundraising group AIPAC.
Bowman, Bush and Omar had all expressed opposition to President Joe Biden’s continued support for Israel, but AIPAC as of mid-July had given just $25 to Samuels’s campaign, according to data collected by Open Secrets.
Nine representatives were once considered part of the “Squad” but in recent times, the Democratic Party has backed away from some of its more left-wing causes such as providing government-backed healthcare for all Americans or defunding the police, which rose to prominence in the primaries leading up to Biden’s 2020 nomination.
Omar, who came to the US as a refugee from Somalia, describes her politics as “visionary, bold and loud” and says she has delivered millions of dollars in federal funds for community development in her district.
She argues she has paid close attention to her district’s large immigrant population – including Somalis – in part by probing whether large banks discriminate against citizens who are Muslim.
Omar has faced criticism for anti-Jewish remarks, with House Republicans in 2023 voting to remove her from the Foreign Affairs Committee over a 2019 social media post suggesting that Israel’s supporters were motivated by money rather than principle. Omar has apologised for that post.
Jamaica-born Samuels, a former toy developer and leader of a nonprofit organisation, had positioned himself as a pragmatic alternative, saying he agreed with many of Omar’s policy stances, but not what he called her divisive governing style.