Ilhan Omar Primary: ‘Squad’ Member Faces Challenge In Tuesday’s Election

United States Representative Ilhan Omar hold a press conference with US Representatives in front of the US Capitol to call for a ceasefire and end to the Israeli attacks on Gaza in Washington DC, United States on February 29, 2024

 Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is facing a primary challenge from former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels Tuesday—making her the latest member of the progressive “Squad” and critic of Israel’s war tactics in Gaza to face a potential ouster.

Key Facts

Omar and Samuels are vying for the Democratic nomination in Minnesota’s 5th congressional district, after Omar narrowly defeated Samuels in the 2022 primary by less than 2,500 votes.

Omar is widely expected to win Tuesday with an internal campaign poll taken in July showing Omar ahead by nearly 30 points and a February poll by Samuels’ campaign showing her leading by nearly 20 points.

Two other “Squad” members—Reps. Cori Bush, D-Minn., and Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y.— have been successfully ousted this year in primaries where their opponents were backed by the pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in a show of opposition to their criticism of Israel’s war tactics in Gaza and defense of Palestinian people.

AIPAC’s super PAC, the United Democracy Project, spent $350,000 supporting Samuels in 2022, but it doesn’t appear the pro-Israel movement has been as involved in this year’s contest.

Tangent

Bush lost her primary by five points last week to St. Louis prosecutor Wesley Bell, while Bowman lost to his centrist challenger, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, by 12 points in June. Omar, Bowman and Bush are among nine progressive “Squad” members, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who rose to prominence during the Trump administration, serving as both a counterforce to the former president and the Democratic establishment under former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. They are known for their support of left-leaning policies, including the Green New Deal to combat climate change, universal free tuition and more recently, have voiced support for Supreme Court reform.

Key Background

Despite predictions she’ll cruise to victory, Omar doesn’t appear to be taking any chances and has outspent Samuels $1.4 million to $222,000, according to The Washington Post. Samuels said he received nearly $200,000 in additional donations after Bush and Bowman’s defeats, The Washington Post reported, noting a group with a similar name to the United Democracy Project (which also ran ads against Bowman and Bush) gave $109,000 to Samuels in recent days, though the group’s donors have yet to be publicly disclosed. Omar has a long history of criticizing Israel, even before its war with Hamas. She apologized in 2019 after drawing widespread condemnation for her comment that U.S. support for Israel was “all about the Benjamins.” More recently, she was one of the first members of Congress to call for a ceasefire in the wake of Israel’s counterstrikes in Gaza and she has supported pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses, including her daughter, a Barnard student who was arrested during the demonstrations there earlier this year. AIPAC may have stayed out of Omar’s race simply because she is less vulnerable than Bowman and Bush.