With the election just days away, Minnesotans were weighing crime, the cost of living and the future of their communities. Rep. Ilhan Omar had to choose whom to share a stage with. She chose Hasan Piker, a far-left streamer.
Piker has said that America deserved 9/11, described Hamas as “a thousand times better” than Israel and said he would vote for Hamas every time. He has called Orthodox Jews “inbred,” dismissed Hamas’s treatment of women and gay people as domestic policy he did not care about, and warned this summer that if American Jews continued supporting Israel, someone might “come around and take action.”
Omar knew about those remarks. So did the people around her.
Before she appeared with Piker at a live conversation and Q&A in Minneapolis on Monday night, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas called her decision “a betrayal of Jewish Minnesotans.” Her district includes St. Louis Park, a longstanding center of Jewish life in the state. The Jewish caucus in her own party said Piker’s rhetoric had no place in Minnesota. Sen. Amy Klobuchar called his statements reckless and unacceptable. Reps. Angie Craig and Betty McCollum, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and state Sen. Ron Latz also criticized the event. Democratic leaders privately asked Omar to cancel.
Her campaign responded that the Democratic Party is a “big tent.” Omar went ahead and appeared onstage on Oct. 26.
At the event, Piker called Republicans “terrorists,” while Omar described the GOP as the “pedophile protection party.”
This was not an old video resurfacing or a stray remark from years ago. Omar made a deliberate choice to attend, despite objections from fellow Democrats and Jewish constituents. The event, titled “I’m the Host Now!”, was organized to encourage voter turnout and hosted by state Sen. Omar Fateh, who belongs to the Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America.
Omar did not simply wander into the controversy. She decided that a sold-out event mattered more than the concerns of Jewish families in her district. That was not a momentary mistake. It was a judgment call.
It also fits a broader pattern. Omar has previously apologized for using antisemitic tropes, and she often portrays a large part of the country as an adversary, as though doing so were a form of courage.
I spent 30 years with the Minnesota State Patrol. In law enforcement, you learn that a person’s character can show in what they do after being warned: whom they trust, what they accept, and whether they change course or dig in.
Omar was warned. She dug in.
Minnesota’s Fifth District deserves better. Its residents are worried about violent crime, grocery prices, rent and whether their children will have the same opportunities they did. The district is also home to immigrants who came to the United States believing in the country, and to Jewish Minnesotans who should not have to question whether their representative takes threats against them seriously.
In my years with the State Patrol, I never asked someone’s political affiliation before responding to a crash. Public service means showing up for everyone, including those who did not vote for you.
I’m a Republican, and I won’t hide that. I believe the border should be secure, violent criminals and fraudsters should be held accountable, families need help with rising costs, and police officers deserve support rather than contempt. I believe America is worth defending.
But I don’t think people who disagree with me are terrorists. You can stand firmly for your beliefs without treating millions of fellow citizens as enemies—and without sharing a stage with someone who says his country deserved an attack.
Omar has had years to show Minnesotans what kind of representative she is. Last Monday, she made her position clear.
Now voters can respond. We can choose public safety over political theater, accountability over excuses, and respect for our neighbors over constant division.
Omar made her choice. On Nov. 3, voters in the Fifth District will make theirs.
