Ilhan Omar, a member of the far-left “Squad,” easily defeated more moderate Democratic candidate Don Samuels in Tuesday night’s Minnesota primary.
Omar won an overwhelming 56.2% of the vote to Samuels’ 42.9%, with 95% of the votes counted. Omar’s victory came as two members of the Democratic Party’s left-wing faction were elected. “Squad” He lost a fiercely contested primary to a more centrist opponent.
In June, anti-Israel Rep. Jamaal Bowman lost to George Latimer in New York’s 16th congressional district, and more recently, Missouri Rep. Cori Bush, a vocal advocate of defunding the police, lost his St. Louis-based seat to Wesley Bell, a more moderate candidate and the son of a police officer.
Minnesota was different: Omar ran against Samuels in the 2022 primary and narrowly won, 50.3% of the vote.
Omar is expected to win again in November in her heavily Democratic district, where she won 74.3% of the vote in the 2022 election.
Omar’s victory means anti-Israel figures will continue to have a vocal voice in the Democratic caucus. In 2023, she was removed from the Foreign Relations Committee after tweets suggesting support for Israel was funded by wealthy donors.
Minneapolis City Councilman Don Samuels has positioned himself as a more moderate candidate than Omar.
Ahead of the primary, Samuels tweeted that his campaign was “a movement of ordinary Americans standing up against the hate, division and self-serving politics that are tearing our communities and country apart.”
Omar has an ally in vice presidential candidate Tim Waltz, who once said, “On bad days, I think, ‘Ilhan Omar is a woman,’ and it brightens my mood.”
