MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (AP) — Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the progressive lawmakers known as “The Squad” and a vocal critic of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, has won her Minnesota primary.
Omar successfully defended her Minneapolis-area 5th District seat against a fresh challenge from former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels, a more centrist liberal whom she narrowly defeated in the 2022 primary.
Speaking to supporters in Minneapolis, Omar echoed some of the themes of the Harris-Walz presidential campaign.
“We are pursuing a politics of joy,” she said. “Because we know that it is joyful to fight for your neighbors. (…) We know that it is joyful to make housing a human right. We know that it is joyful to fight for health care to be a human right. We know that it is joyful to want to live in a peaceful and equitable world.”
Omar avoided the fate of two other members of the team. 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 opponents and millions of dollars spent by the United Democracy Project, a super political action committee affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which skipped the Minnesota race.
Samuels had criticized Omar’s condemnation of the Israeli government’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas. While Omar has also criticized Hamas for its Oct. 7 attack on Israel and mass hostage kidnappings, Samuels said it was one-sided and divisive. He also highlighted public safety concerns in Minneapolis, where a former police officer murdered George Floyd in 2020.
Former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels poses outside his home on Nov. 10, 2023, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)
Samuels said he was “very disappointed” with his defeat.
“I was hoping that a solid strategy and a careful attention to detail of people who felt excluded would trump an overwhelming superiority in dollars,” he said in an interview. “It’s clear that money matters a little more in politics than I had hoped.”
Omar will face Republican Dalia Al-Aqidi, an Iraqi-American journalist and self-described secular Muslim who calls Omar pro-Hamas.
The war in Gaza broke out on October 7 with Hamas’ unprecedented surprise attack on Israel in which the terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages.
In response, Israel launched a ground operation in Gaza with the stated aims of dismantling Hamas and recovering the hostages.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, more than 39,000 people have been killed or presumed dead in the fighting so far, but the toll cannot be verified and does not distinguish between civilians and fighters. Israel claims to have killed some 15,000 fighters in the fighting and about 1,000 terrorists inside the country in the October 7 attack.
Pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protesters march from Columbia University to Hunter College on May 6, 2024, in New York City. (SPENCER PLATT/Getty Images via AFP)
While Omar condemned the Hamas attack, she has also been a harsh critic of Israel throughout the war, joining the squadron in trying to get US President Joe Biden to freeze military aid and arms shipments to Israel.
She was also charged with ritual libel after calling Jewish students who supported Israel throughout the war “pro-genocide.”
Meanwhile, 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 U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar in November.
And former federal prosecutor Joe Teirab — endorsed by former President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and the National Republican Congressional Committee — won a contested Republican primary for the Minnesota 2nd District seat held by Democratic Rep. Angie Craig.
His opponent, defense attorney Tayler Rahm, won the endorsement at the district convention with the support of grassroots conservatives.
Although Rahm announced in July that he was suspending his campaign and would instead serve as a senior adviser to Trump’s campaign in Minnesota, he remained on the ballot.
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, Democrat of Minnesota, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, June 24, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
Teirab will face Craig in what is expected to be Minnesota’s most competitive House race in November.
Craig released a statement after Teirab’s victory calling him “a guy who recently moved to the district because he saw a political opportunity.”
“This is a man who spent months doing everything he could to win the support of Republicans in Washington,” Craig said. “And this is a man who has made it his life’s mission to take away families’ reproductive freedom and to hand those decisions over to politicians.”
In the U.S. Senate race, White — an ally of jailed former Trump aide Steve Bannon and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones — shocked many political observers when he beat Fraser at the party convention for the GOP endorsement.
White’s social media comments have been denounced as misogynistic, homophobic, anti-Semitic and profane. His legal and financial troubles include unpaid child support and questionable campaign spending, including $1,200 spent at a Florida strip club after losing his primary challenger to Omar in 2022. He argues that as a Black man, he can broaden the party’s base by appealing to voters of color in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and others disillusioned with establishment politics.
After his victory, White said in a message posted on the social media platform X: “Go ahead, communists… The people are coming.”
U.S. Senate candidate Royce White listens as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally, July 27, 2024, in St. Cloud, Minnesota. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Fraser said White’s confrontational style and message won’t attract the moderates and independents needed to take on Klobuchar, who is seeking a fourth term. He said he offers a more traditional approach, emphasizing fiscal conservatism, strong defense, global leadership and small government. Fraser also pointed to his 26 years in the Navy, where he was an intelligence officer and served a combat tour in Iraq.
Neither woman has had as much money as Klobuchar. White reported raising $133,000, while Fraser raised $68,000. Klobuchar, meanwhile, has raised about $19 million this cycle and has more than $6 million to fund her general election campaign. She faced only nominal opposition in the primary.
Another clash between establishment and rank-and-file Republicans took place in western Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District. Michelle Fischbach, a Trump-backed Republican who is considered one of the most conservative members of Congress, defeated small business owner Steve Boyd. Boyd ran to her right on a religious platform and blocked her from gaining support at the district convention. Boyd reported spending $170,000, while Fischbach spent more than $1 million.
