Omar defeated former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels in primary for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district.

Democratic United States Representative Ilhan Omar, one of the progressive House members known as the “Squad” and an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, has won her primary race in Minnesota.

With 216 of 217 precincts reporting results, Omar had 56.2 percent, compared with 42.9 percent for Samuels, according to Minnesota Secretary of State tallies.

Samuels had criticised Omar’s condemnation of the Israeli government’s handling of the war on Gaza. While Omar has also criticised the Palestinian group Hamas for attacking Israel and taking captives, Samuels has accused her of being one-sided and divisive. He also stressed public safety issues in Minneapolis where a former police officer murdered Black man George Floyd in 2020.

Other “Squad” members Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri have lost their party primaries over the past few months against opponents who had won substantial support from the pro-Israel fundraising group AIPAC.

  • pewter
    24•28 days ago

    She won her primary a couple months ago and she’s in a very blue district.

    • @Ensign_CrabEnglish
      2•27 days ago

      They can still fund her opponent in the general.

      And I’m sure that if they succeed, lemmy’s centrists will gloat just like they did when a genocidal regime bought candidates to unseat Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush.

      • pewter
        3•27 days ago

        First part is true, but irrelevant since it’s a blue district like I tried to explain to the other dude. When I say blue, I mean she more than doubled her next closest opponent (the Republican candidate)'s votes. It would be a waste of AIPAC’s money from their perspective.

        Second part sounds like fan fiction because the users on Lemmy I’ve interacted with don’t sound like people who want to see a solidly blue district turn red.

    • @mightyfoolish
      1•28 days ago

      It doesn’t mean AIPAC cannot fund the campaign of a more conservative Democrat.