Ilhan Omar Survives!

Minnesota lawmaker survives primary challenger.

Minnesota lawmaker barely survives her primary opponent. The Squad is a coalition of six lawmakers from strongly Democratic districts. They often oppose some of President Joe Biden's agenda and support primary opponents of incumbent Democrats.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is one of the most polarizing members of this group. She along with Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) are considered polarizing due to their "activism."

Ilhan won her primary. She etched out a narrow victory against a Minneapolis city councilman who believes Omar is too polarizing and more interested in being an activist than a lawmaker. She and Rashida are the Muslim and women of color. They along with Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) are the only Muslims in Congress. They are often attacked because of their religion and their opposition to American's support of Israel.

Omar, who represents Minneapolis and is one of the left’s leading voices in Congress, has defended calls to redirect public safety funding more into community-based programs. She squared off with former City Councilmember Don Samuels, whose north Minneapolis base suffers from more violent crime than other parts of the city.

Samuels argued that Omar is divisive and helped defeat a ballot question last year that sought to replace the city police department with a new public safety unit. He and others also successfully sued the city to force it to meet minimum police staffing levels called for in Minneapolis’ charter.

Don Samuels said Omar best be worrying about Minneapolis instead of clout.

Samuels said his narrow loss shows that Omar is beatable: “If this was the general election, no doubt that we would have won this race.” Omar countered, “Tonight’s victory is a testament to how much our district believes in the collective values we are fighting for.”

Barb Atkinson, a 53-year-old part-time event planner for a radio station who supported Samuels, called Omar “too far to the left.”

“Although I respect Ilhan Omar and what she’s done, I disagree with the defund the police. I really think that wording sends the wrong message,” Atkinson said. She added, “We need our leaders to work together to solve this issue.”

Omar, who is seeking her third term in the House, had crushed a similar primary challenge two years ago from a well-funded but lesser-known opponent.

“She’s had a lot of adversity already and pushback. I don’t think her work is done,” said Kathy Ward, a 62-year-old property caretaker for an apartment building in Minneapolis who voted for Omar. “We’ve got to give her a chance.”

Omar is the latest member to survive a primary. Bush and Tlaib also survived their primaries. Hopefully, they will get the message. Cause if they want to be the noise, they could face defeat in the next primary.

Omar and Tlaib are very critical of America's support for Israel. I strongly agree with the lawmakers on this. The Israeli government has brutally killed Palestinians living in the West Bank, Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. The U.S. support for Israel is unequivocal and controversial. The U.S. looks the other way when Israel commits criminal acts against the Palestinians.