MINNEAPOLIS — Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the progressive House members known as “The Squad” and a harsh critic of Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza, won her primary race in Minnesota.
Omar successfully defended her Minneapolis-area 5th District seat against a repeated challenge from former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels, a more centrist liberal whom she narrowly defeated in the 2022 primary.
Omar avoided the fate of two Squadron colleagues. Rep. Cori Bush lost the Democratic nomination in her Missouri district last week, and Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York lost his primary in June. Both faced well-funded opponents and millions of dollars spent by the United Democracy Project, a super political action committee affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which appeared to have been left out of the race in Minnesota.
Samuels criticized Omar’s condemnation of the Israeli government’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. While Omar has also criticized Hamas for attacking Israel and taking hostages, Samuels said she is one-sided and divisive. He also emphasized public safety issues in Minneapolis, where a former police officer murdered George Floyd in 2020.
Conservative populist and former NBA player Royce White defeated Navy veteran Joe Fraser in Minnesota’s primary election for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar in November.
Former federal prosecutor Joe Teirab also won a closely contested GOP primary for Minnesota’s 2nd District seat held by Democratic Rep. Angie Craig.
Teirab has the support of former President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and the National Republican Congressional Committee.
His opponent, defense attorney Tayler Rahm, won endorsement at the district convention with support from grassroots conservatives.
Although Rahm announced in July that he was suspending his campaign and would instead serve as a senior adviser to the Trump campaign in Minnesota, he remained on the ballot.
Teirab will face Craig in what is expected to be Minnesota’s most competitive race in November.
Craig issued a statement after Teirab’s victory calling him “a guy who recently moved to the district because he saw a political opportunity.”
“He’s a guy who spent months doing everything he could to win the support of Washington Republicans,” Craig said. “And he’s a guy who has made it his life’s mission to take away reproductive freedom from families and hand those decisions over to politicians.”
Omar — a Somali-American and Muslim — was criticized by Jamaican-born Samuels and others in his first term for comments that were widely criticized for invoking anti-Semitic tropes and suggesting that American Jews had divided loyalties. This time, Samuels criticized his condemnation of the Israeli government’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
Although Omar has also criticized Hamas for attacking Israel and taking hostages, Samuels says she is one-sided and divisive. He has also been emphasizing the public safety issues he has focused on in 2022. The big issue at the time was policing in Minneapolis, where a former police officer murdered George Floyd in 2020.
Omar will face Republican Dalia Al-Aqidi, an Iraqi-American journalist and self-described secular Muslim who calls Omar pro-Hamas and a terrorist sympathizer.
In the U.S. Senate race, White — an ally of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones — shocked many political observers when he defeated Fraser at the party convention for the GOP endorsement.
White’s comments on social media have been denounced as misogynistic, homophobic, anti-Semitic and profane. His legal and financial problems include unpaid child support and questionable campaign spending, including $1,200 spent at a strip club in Florida after he lost his primary challenge to Omar in 2022. He argues that as a black man he can amplify the party’s base appealing to black voters in Minneapolis-St. Paul Area and others disillusioned with established politics.
Fraser said White’s confrontational style and message will not attract the moderates and independents needed for a competitive challenge against Klobuchar, who is seeking a fourth term. He said he offers a more mainstream approach, emphasizing fiscal conservatism, a strong defense, global leadership and small government. Fraser also highlighted his 26 years in the Navy, where he was an intelligence officer and served a combat mission in Iraq.
None of them come close to the resources Klobuchar has. White last reported raising $133,000, while Fraser received $68,000. Klobuchar, meanwhile, has raised about $19 million this cycle and has more than $6 million available to spend on her general election campaign. She faced only nominal primary opposition.
Another clash between the establishment and rank-and-file Republicans occurred in the 7th District in western Minnesota. Trump-backed Republican Rep. Michelle Fischbach, considered one of the most conservative members of Congress, defeated small business owner Steve Boyd. Boyd ran to her right on a religious platform and prevented her from gaining support at the district convention. Boyd reported spending $170,000, while Fischbach spent more than $1 million.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
