Ilhan Omar Barely Overcomes Surprisingly Tough Primary Challenge

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) barely hung on in Minnesota’s fifth congressional district Democrat primary, defeating centrist Don Samuels by approximately 3,000 votes, according to projections.

Omar won a narrow victory in Tuesday’s primary, highlighting her declining popularity with Democrats.

BREAKING: Ilhan Omar survives #MN05 primary, challenger Don Samuels concedes.

Omar will win by ~3,000 votes, far less than the 35,000 she won by in the 2020 primary. https://t.co/cpzgQ7KJf6

— Theo Keith (@TheoKeith) August 10, 2022

Although Omar is expected to defeat Samuels by a two-point margin with a roughly 3,000 vote advantage, her performance on Tuesday is nowhere near as strong as during her 2018 and 2020 primary elections.

For example, Omar earned over 14,000 more votes than her Democrat challenger in 2018 and roughly 35,000 more votes than her 2020 primary challenger.

Since her election to Congress in 2018, Omar has been a part of the far-left “Squad” that has advocated for defunding the police and abolishing the United States prison system.

Samuels’ surprise effort against Omar may be due to Omar supporting a failed ballot measure that would have replaced the Minneapolis Police Department by a Department of Public Safety.

Samuels, a former Minneapolis city councilman, told the Star Tribune that Omar’s support of the effort to defund the Minneapolis Police Department pushed him to run against her.

Omar now faces Republican challenger Cicely Davies in November’s midterm elections.

BREAKING Cicely Davis wins the Republican nomination to represent Minnesota in the U.S House’s 5th Congressional District. #APRaceCall at 9: 24 p.m. CDT. https://t.co/2nlgpji7ac

— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) August 10, 2022

Davis is a former BLEXIT Minnesota director who believes she will defeat Omar in general elections. She has the support of the Republican Party of Minnesota.

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Davis called out Omar for supporting efforts to defund the police in Minneapolis during an interview with a local news outlet.

As the outlet reported:

Davis says she’ll focus on issues most important to constituents in the Fifth District, like inflation, gas prices and baby formula shortages. Omar and her are at odds on public safety, she says. Omar argued for the defunding of police but Davis said that constituents who she speaks to would prefer more police.

” They want to feel secure. They want to walk their dog. Davis stated that they wanted to be there for their children at the bus station and this was the place where Davis distinguished himself from his opponent. We need to have police around. Our streets must feel safe. To feel safe in our streets, CD 5 must be available .”

.

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter.

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