Omar defeated former Minneapolis city council member Don
Samuels in Minnesota's 5th District Democratic primary.
With 216 of 217 precincts reporting results, Omar was
leading Samuels, according to Minnesota Secretary of State tallies.
At the end of a spirited campaign, Samuels acknowledged
Omar's victory in a telephone interview, but said the results showed
"there are still people who are feeling left out of the congresswoman's
leadership."
Omar's robust campaign fundraising likely played a significant
role in her victory. She collected US$6.8 million since the 2022 election, more
than double the typical House member's reelection campaign and well over
Samuels' US$1.4 million, according to federal campaign disclosures.
"Because Omar had a tough primary last cycle (the 2022
election), she was prepared this time around with a strong ground game and
excellent fundraising numbers that far outpaced Samuels," said Ryan
Dawkins, a political science professor at Minnesota's Carleton College.
The Minnesota lawmaker, one of four progressive women whose
2018 election created The Squad, is expected to easily win the November 05
election. Control of Congress will be up for grabs as Vice President Kamala
Harris and Republican Donald Trump seek the presidency.
Fellow
Squad members Representatives Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of
Missouri lost their party primaries over the past few months, facing opponents
who had won substantial support from the pro-Israel fundraising group AIPAC.
Bowman, Bush and Omar had all expressed opposition to
President Joe Biden's support for Israel in its war against Hamas militants in
Gaza, but AIPAC as of mid-July had given just US$25 to Samuels' campaign,
according to data collected by Open Secrets. Bowman and Bush's losses will
whittle away The Squad's ranks from its peak of nine members.
They also reflect a Democratic Party that has backed away
from some of its furthest-left causes, like calls for providing
government-backed healthcare for all Americans or talk of defunding police,
which came to the fore during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary before
Biden secured the nomination.
The absence of a significant 2024 Democratic primary before
Biden ended his candidacy last month, passing the torch to Harris, meant that
further-left candidates such as independent Senator Bernie Sanders did not
drive the debate.
"I understood going into this election cycle that the
progressive movement was going to be burdened because of the absence of
somebody carrying the banner on the center stage of American politics,"
said Alan Minsky, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America.
Nevertheless, he argued that progressive priorities, such as
making prescription drugs and childcare more affordable still resonate with
voters.
Omar
and some fellow Squad members voted against some Biden priorities including the
US$ one trillion infrastructure bill signed into law in 2021. They mainly
objected because it did not move in tandem with a bill to expand social
programs, including childcare, as had been promised.
Unlike the hardline Republican House Freedom Caucus, whose
roughly three dozen members have repeatedly blocked their own party's
priorities, members of The Squad have generally voted in step with fellow
Democrats on legislation.
Omar,
who arrived in the United States as a refugee from Somalia, describes her
politics as "visionary, bold and loud" and says she has delivered
millions of dollars in federal funds for community development in her district.
She argued she has paid close attention to her district's
large immigrant population - including Somalis - in part by probing whether
large banks discriminate against Muslim Americans.
She has
faced criticism for antisemitic remarks, with House Republicans in 2023 voting
to remove her from the Foreign Affairs Committee over a 2019 social media post
suggesting that Israel's supporters were motivated by money rather than
principle. Omar has apologized for that post.
Jamaica-born Samuels, a former toy developer and leader of a
non-profit organization, had positioned himself as a pragmatic alternative,
saying he agreed with many of Omar's policy stances, but not what he called her
divisive governing style.
