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Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, an inaugural member of the progressive “Squad” in the House of Representatives, easily beat back a primary challenger on Tuesday after two of her fellow left-wing members lost their seats in recent weeks.
Omar, a third-term congresswoman of Somali-American heritage, has made history in Congress as the first elected member to wear a religious headscarf on the chamber floor.
She has also made headlines for other reasons, namely, her strong critiques of US foreign policy around issues including harsh criticism of Israel’s campaign in Gaza.
The race was called around 9.45pm CT, when about more than half of the vote was in. Omar was leading with 56.2 per cent of the vote when the race was called.
Omar had faced a fresh challenge from Don Samuels, a former Minneapolis city councilman. She will now face Republican Dalia Al-Aqidi in November.
Omar celebrated her victory telling supporters in Minneapolis that “we run the politics of joy.”
“Because we know it is joyful to fight for your neighbors... We know it is joyful to make sure housing is a human right,” she said. “We know it is joyful to fight for health care to be a human right. We know it is joyful to want to live in a peaceful and equitable world.”
Samuels meanwhile said he was “very disappointed” with his loss.
Samuels previously lost by just a few thousand votes to the incumbent congresswoman in the last election cycle. AIPAC, the pro-Israel organization which backed challengers against other progressives, did not endorse her opponent.
Like in 2022, Samuels raised large amounts from out-of-state donors and pro-Israel sources while appearing for interviews in conservative media.
Samuels again challenged Omar on the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor party line and this time around lost that party’s endorsement during its May convention after the congresswoman won 60 per cent of the vote from party delegates.
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.
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.
In particular, they have highlighted the group’s support for some Republican candidates who have espoused support for Donald Trump’s 2020 election lies in GOP primaries.
Her victory comes after the defeat of two incumbent “Squad” members this cycle: Jamaal Bowman in New York and Cori Bush in Missouri. Like Omar, the two are vocal critics of Israel; unlike the congresswoman, her colleagues faced AIPAC-backed opponents and 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.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to reflect that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel group, was not involved in this race.
