After a tough summer of campaigning for members of the so-called “Squad,” a group of progressive and diverse House Democrats will face their final intraparty challenge on Tuesday, when four Midwestern and New England states hold primaries.
Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota will face voters a week after fellow Squad member Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri lost her renomination bid and nearly two months after fellow Squad member Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York lost his primary to an opponent.
But Omar, the first Somali-American elected to Congress and the first woman of color to serve in the Minnesota state legislature, is the favorite to win a fourth two-year term representing the Minneapolis-based 5th Congressional District in a three-way Democratic primary.
Check out the latest FOX News power rankings for the 2024 election
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images)
Bush and Bowman faced well-funded opponents and millions of dollars in outside funding from the United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Omar, also a vocal critic of Israel, did not take advertising from the United Democracy Project.
And Omar is viewed as in a much better political position than she was two years ago, when she narrowly defeated her main challenger, Don Samuels, for two consecutive terms.
But in an interview on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Monday, Samuels said his campaign has seen a surge in fundraising and volunteer numbers in the week since Bush’s defeat, and said Omar is “divisive and combative. She’s simply choosing a side that’s trying to divide her and her base and ignoring the other side.”
The Minnesota primary comes one week after Vice President Harris named Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2024. An old video of Walz praising Omar has gone viral in recent days.
Vice President Harris greets Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on August 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Perhaps the Squad’s best-known member is three-term Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who handily defeated her challenger in the June primary.
The only member of the Squad who has not yet called a primary this term is Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, who is unopposed in her September election.
Click here to get the FOX News app
Senator Amy Klobuchar is seeking her fourth six-year term in the Minnesota Senate and has overwhelming support in the five-candidate Democratic primary, which is contested by eight candidates in the Republican primary.
In neighboring Wisconsin, Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin is running unopposed in her party’s primary for a third term, while Republican businessman and real estate developer Eric Hovde, who has donated $13 million to her campaign and is backed by former President Trump, is facing a nominal challenger in the GOP primary.
Two candidates are running in the Democratic primary in Wisconsin’s western 3rd Congressional District, with the winner facing Republican Rep. Derrick Van Alden, a strong ally of President Trump, in November.
And in the Republican-leaning 8th District in northeastern Wisconsin, attention is focused on the Republican primary to fill the seat of former Rep. Mike Gallagher, who left Congress in April. In parallel with the primary, a special election will be held to compete for the remaining term of former Rep. Gallagher’s current term, which expires at the end of the year.
In Connecticut, attention is focused on the Republican primary race to challenge longtime Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy and Rep. Jim Himes.
In Vermont, two Democrats are vying for the party’s gubernatorial nomination, with the winner facing Republican Gov. Phil Scott in November.
Scott, a moderate Republican and critic of Trump, is seeking a fifth two-year term as Vermont governor and is unopposed in his party’s primary. Though Vermont is a reliably Democratic state, Scott remains popular and won nearly 70% of the vote in his 2022 reelection bid.
Get the latest 2024 campaign updates, exclusive interviews and more on Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
