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Rep. Ilhan Omar wins primary election rematch against Don Samuels

Michelle Griffith, Minnesota Reformer
August 14, 2024 

Ilhan Omar. (Lorie Shaull/Flickr

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar staved off another primary election challenge from former Minneapolis City Councilman Don Samuels on Tuesday, according to unofficial primary election results.

Omar’s win is a victory for Minneapolis progressives, as well as opponents of Israel’s war in Gaza. Pro-Israel activists successfully ousted two “Squad” members in Democratic primaries in recent months, but Omar will likely return to Washington for another term given nominal opposition in the November election.

The primary race for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District didn’t feature the extensive outside spending of the other Squad primaries.

Samuels lost to Omar in the 2022 primary election by about 2 percentage points, and this year made the case that her headline-grabbing advocacy is leaving Minneapolis without competent leadership to address problems facing constituents.

Omar’s margin of victory will be larger than 2022, according to preliminary results.

“This campaign has been one of the ugliest, most disgusting (campaigns) against me that I have ever, ever witnessed,” Omar said in a speech at her election night watch party. “We had an opponent that was willing to align with literal Nazis in order to defeat us.”

Omar in 2022 largely ignored Samuels’ campaign and received the political scare of her life when he nearly won. Omar this year campaigned energetically against Samuels. She spent $450,000 on advertising in the runup to the primary, as of a July campaign finance report.

Omar, now in her third term, for years has balanced roles as an influential progressive voice in Washington and an international spokeswoman for justice, with the more mundane aspects of being a member of Congress: helping constituents navigate federal bureaucracy, voting as a member of the House minority on a raft of legislation that will never become law and lifting up local businesses and nonprofits in the 5th District.

Omar hopes a Democratic House majority will mean a return to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, from which she was removed by the GOP House majority over allegations of antisemitism, over unanimous support from her caucus, including Jewish Democratic colleagues.

Katherine Byrn, a 53-year-old teacher at the University of Minnesota, told the Reformer she voted for Omar because she “kicks ass.”

Kerry Newstrom, a 45-year-old high school teacher in northeast Minneapolis, voted for Omar because she said we need women in elective office. She has no kids and called herself “a childless cat lady,” referring to disparaging comments made by Republican vice presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance.

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