Progressive ‘Squad’ member Omar beats chief challenger Samuels in Minnesota primary

Rep. Ilhan Omar talks with media during a campaign stop in Minneapolis, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. | Kerem Yucel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP

MINNEAPOLIS—By a 56.2%-42.9% margin, progressive “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) incumbent lawmaker from Minneapolis, beat her chief challenger, former city commissioner Don Samuels, in the August 13 DFL primary there. The win virtually guarantees her re-election in the very progressive city-centered congressional district this fall.

Omar’s win was the most notable development in a busy day for politics. Other prominent events included the Teamsters’ National Black Caucus breaking with the parent union and endorsing the Democratic ticket of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for the White House.

And two more states—Arizona and Missouri—certified referenda for this fall to put the right to abortion into state constitutions. Meanwhile, Harris has surged into the lead in national polls and in some swing states, though frequently within the margins of error.

Omar’s win by 16,000 votes, 67,920-51,839, was not unexpected, as she outraised and outspent Samuels by a five-to-one ratio, and garnered strong and early support from top congressional and state Democrats, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ind-Vt., the state AFL-CIO and the state DFL convention, where she won three-fifths of the ballots.

She also emphasized constituent service work and how she worked well with her Democratic colleagues. They rallied around Omar, Congress’ first Somali-American, last year after the House’s ruling Republicans threw her off the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Omar had slammed the war waged by the far-right Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against Gaza and demanded a cease-fire, negotiations, and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.

Omar stuck to her denunciation of Israel’s murderous war against Gazans. Her stand played well in her district, which sent uncommitted delegates to the coming Democratic National Convention in Chicago as a protest against the Democratic Biden administration’s billions in military aid to Israel.

“Several cycles ago when she first ran, you wouldn’t have found a lot of our elected officials probably supporting her, but they support her now because she’s been much more effective in building coalitions,” DFL Chairman Ken Martin said.

And the notoriously right-wing and Trump-Republican-financed American Israel Public Affairs Committee largely stayed out of the Omar-Samuels race. It spent less than $30,000 on anti-Omar ads this year, compared to $350,000 two years ago. Then, Omar was overconfident of winning and Samuels came within two percentage points of defeating her.

In this election cycle, AIPAC vowed to spend $100 million to beat lawmakers who did not reflexively genuflect to Netanyahu. Earlier this year, its massive multi-million-dollar ad spending helped sink Reps. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and Cori Bush, D-N.Y., but it couldn’t unseat Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa. All, plus Omar are lawmakers of color and all are Squad members. Omar used AIPAC and its clout as an effective campaign foil.

Besides the Omar-Samuels race, there were several other notable political developments on August 13:

The Teamsters National Black Caucus endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota’s DFL Gov. Tim Walz.

Union traditionally waits

The large union traditionally waits until after the two major party conventions to make an endorsement decision, and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien accepted Republican nominee Donald Trump’s invitation to speak to the GOP National Convention last month.

O’Brien delivered a blistering prime-time speech against Republicans who hate workers, and against corporate greed, but Trump was counting on the fact that O’Brien is a white middle-aged guy on TV in prime time, whose appearance would validate Trump’s appeal to white working-class voters. While many labor leaders condemned his appearance at the Republican gathering some said he used it as an opportunity to give what they characterized as a strong pro-labor speech and all have avoided using it as a means to split the labor movement, which, of course, is the goal of corporate America.

The Teamsters’ Black Caucus posted its endorsement of Harris and Walz on Facebook. The demographic firm Zippia calculates that 60% of the union’s 1.4 million members are white, 16% are Hispanic or Latino, and 15% are Black.

Harris and Walz “consistently demonstrated their unwavering commitment to workers and their families. Their records reflect a deep dedication to advancing labor rights and supporting working-class Americans,” the caucus said.

Harris pulled ahead of Trump in the latest national polls, with margins ranging from 1.4% to 5%. What was even more notable was her showing in the handful of swing states that will decide the election.

Arizona polls split between a one-percentage-point Trump lead and a three-point Harris margin. Georgia’s latest and sole poll was a flat 48%-48% tie. Four years ago, Harris’s boss, Democratic President Joe Biden, became the first Democrat to carry Georgia, very narrowly, in decades.

Michigan residents gave Harris a five-point lead without other candidates in the race, and six with the others, including independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—who’s been thrown off of New York’s ballot because of doubts about his residence. Nevadans gave Trump one-point and two-point leads in three polls, all again within the margin of error. Trump had been as much as 9 points ahead of Biden in polls before the president dropped out of the race.

Harris has leads of between 4.4% and 6% in New Hampshire, and 6% in Pennsylvania. She’s also flipped Virginia. The last Trump-Biden poll there gave Trump a five-point lead, but Harris is now up by two. And the sole poll in North Carolina is a 46%-46% tie. Harris’s Wisconsin lead is 49%-40%.

Progressives could also get a boost from pro-abortion referenda on the November ballot. Two more states, reddish Missouri and swing-state Arizona, certified pro-abortion referenda, bringing the total to six. South Dakota’s referendum is anti-abortion.

Since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision two years ago, eliminating the federal constitutional right to abortion, outraged abortion rights supporters have flocked to the polls, with pro-abortion rights stands—including constitutional amendments enshrining the right to abortion–winning every time, regardless of whether the state is deep blue, such as New York and Vermont, swing state Michigan, reddish Ohio, twice, or deep red, such as Kansas and Kentucky.

In most of those cases, the referenda helped Democrats produce much better showings, including unexpected wins, in the off-year election.

The most notable pro-abortion rights petition on this fall’s ballot may be in Florida. Its GOP-gerrymandered legislature outlawed virtually all abortions. But abortion rights backers put a pro-abortion rights constitutional amendment on the ballot by gathering more than a million signatures. And the same polls that show Harris with leads elsewhere over Trump show she’s trailing by five percentage points in a state Trump won handily four years ago.

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CONTRIBUTOR

Mark Gruenberg

Award-winning journalist Mark Gruenberg is head of the Washington, D.C., bureau of People's World. He is also the editor of the union news service Press Associates Inc. (PAI). Known for his reporting skills, sharp wit, and voluminous knowledge of history, Mark is a compassionate interviewer but tough when going after big corporations and their billionaire owners.