On Tuesday night, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a member of the anti-Israel Squad, managed to hold on and won her primary. In the days leading up to the primary race, there was hope from Omar's critics that former Councilman Don Samuels, who came close to ousting her in 2022, could pull off a win this time, but it didn't happen. He even lost by a wider margin.
Decision Desk HQ called the race at 10:40pm, over 90 minutes after the polls closed.
Decision Desk HQ projects Ilhan Omar wins the Democratic primary for US House in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District. #DecisionMade: 10:40 ET
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) August 14, 2024
Follow live results here: https://t.co/zEwDpqmklm pic.twitter.com/YKKzXMxQat
An original member of the Squad, Omar was first elected in 2018, having replaced Keith Ellison, who went on to win his race for Attorney General of Minnesota, and has campaigned for Omar's reelection. She's also run into particular trouble for her antisemitic remarks.
As we reminded over the weekend, when previewing this primary race:
Plenty has happened in two years' time, including but not only the October 7 attack that Israel suffered at the hands of Hamas terrorists. Days after the attack, Omar took to posting anti-Israel narratives over X. She's also participated in anti-Israel events since then with fellow Squad members.
She, like her fellow Squad members, has voted against legislation to do with supporting Israel and taking a stance against antisemitism. Her daughter was also suspended from Columbia University for participating in pro-Hamas protests, and the congresswoman even said that Jewish students were "pro-genocide" for supporting Israel when she visited campus. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) moved to censure the congresswoman for such remarks.
That being said, Omar has had a history of antisemitism for years, though it's long been excused by the Democratic Party. Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) even claimed she supposedly didn't know what she was saying.
Even before the polls closed on Tuesday in Minnesota, Omar's primary was a trending topic over X, just as it had been when Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), a fellow Squad member, lost her primary last Tuesday to DA Wesley Bell. "Omar" and "#MN05" have also been trending. A Monday report from Jewish Insider had highlighted how Samuels had seen a fundraising boost after Bush's loss.
Bush is not the only Squad member to lose her primary. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) lost his primary in June to Westchester County Executive George Latimer.
Omar, meanwhile, is not the only Squad member to pull off a win in a closely-watched primary. Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) managed to fend off a primary challenge in April from Edgewood Councilwoman Bhavini Patel.
Samuels came closer to winning in 2022, when he lost with 48.2 percent of the vote to Omar's 50.3 percent, or about 2,500 votes out of over 114,500 cast.
With an estimated over 99 percent of the vote reporting, Omar enjoys 56.2 percent of the vote to Samuel's 42.9 percent.
To view the updated results in Omar's race for the 5th Congressional District as they come in, click on the "Change Race" dropdown option.
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