Galvanized by Rep. Cori Bush’s (D-MO) primary defeat, Minnesota Republicans are mounting an eleventh-hour campaign to make Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) the latest “Squad” member to lose her job.
Minnesota voters will decide Omar’s fate in Tuesday’s primary, in which she will face off against three Democratic challengers. Minnesota allows voters to participate in the primary of their choice, regardless of party affiliation. Since Republican candidate Dalia Al-Aqidi is running unopposed, there is a push for Minnesota Republicans to vote for one of Omar’s challengers.
The last-minute push—word of which is largely being spread on X—comes after two of Omar’s fellow Squad members had significant upsets in their Democratic primaries this year. Bush lost her primary last week, and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) lost in June. Bush and Bowman’s increasingly anti-Israel rhetoric is widely seen to have alienated voters.
Don Samuels, who came within 2,500 votes of defeating Omar in 2022, is once again her top challenger.
Before running for Congress, Samuels was a Minneapolis City Councilman and Minneapolis School Board member. The Jamaican-born Samuels holds more pro-Israel views than Omar, who has faced criticism for her anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric since assuming office in 2019. Omar has been embroiled in controversy for ramping up that rhetoric in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 massacre of over 1,000 Israelis.
In April, Samuels attacked Omar for voting against bipartisan legislation aimed at curbing Iran, which had near-unanimous support from Democrats.
Samuels echoes mainstream Democratic positions on Israel and the Gaza War. On his website, he calls for Hamas to return hostages and lose its governing power in Gaza, but also for Israel to halt construction of new settlements and work towards a two-state solution.
Hoping to put a wider margin between herself and Samuels, Omar has boosted her fundraising efforts, reporting approximately $6.2 million in her pre-primary financial disclosure, according to the Associated Press. Samuels has raised around $1.4 million.
Bush and Bowman attribute their losses to the United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) which spent at least $24 million to oust them.
A disgruntled Bush attacked the groups in her concession speech, saying“AIPAC, I’m coming to tear your kingdom down.”
The United Democracy Project has not gotten involved in Omar’s race. In a Wednesday interview with the Forward, Samuels said he thinks AIPAC is “missing an opportunity.”
A July poll shows Omar leading Samuels by 27 points. An internal poll released by the Samuels campaign showed him slightly trailing Omar with over 20 percent of voters still undecided.
Early in-person voting began on June 28.
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