In Minnesota’s Omar-Samuels rerun, better results expected for Ilhan

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., speaks May 24, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. | Mariam Zuhaib/AP

MINNEAPOLIS—In this year’s U.S. House rerun primary Tuesday between Ilhan Omar, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) incumbent, and her leading challenger, former city council and school board member Don Samuels, the candidates may be the same, but the outcome may be different.

That’s because two years ago, Omar—as her campaign manager admitted—”took her foot off the gas pedal,” expecting an easy win in the Minneapolis-based 5th District, which also includes parts of suburban Anoka County. She almost lost.

AIPAC, the right-wing American Israel Public Affairs Committee and mouthpiece for far-right Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, jumped into that primary contest in its final days with a $350,000 ad buy. That hurt Omar.

The result of those two factors was that Omar, the first Somali-American lawmaker, barely beat Samuels 50.3% to 48.2% before easily winning a third two-year term in the deep-blue district. This year, sparse polling shows Omar leading Samuels by up to 25 percentage points.

Omar’s taken nothing for granted. Her campaign has outraised Samuels by $6.4 million -$1.4 million. She beat him for the state DFL convention’s endorsement by a three-to-two ratio. The state AFL-CIO endorsed Omar, although the Steelworkers and the Operating Engineers endorsed Samuels.

Campaign finance records show AIPAC has largely stayed out of the current race, spending only $29,854.

“He’s a great pro-Israel guy and she’s terrible,” a pro-Israel political strategist told the Times of Israel. “But she’s doing a real campaign and has for a long time,” said the strategist, who asked not to be named in order to insulate Samuels. “We did not see it as a race in which we could make a difference.”

And Omar has been walking the walk with workers and unions, sometimes literally.

“Your labor is what makes the city and the state work,” Omar told City Employees Local 363 of the Laborers on July 4, as they were about to begin their union’s historic, first-ever strike at the Minneapolis Park Board, the Minneapolis Labor Review reported.

She also recalled her nervousness in 2007 when her clerical workers union, AFSCME Local 3800, was about to strike the University of Minnesota. “I remember my union siblings telling me we have each other’s backs. Your union siblings will have your back.”

“You should be striking; They should be willing to do a fair contract.”

Continued the fight

“As a leader of the House Budget Committee and Progressive Caucus, I’ve continued to fight for the progressive values Minnesotans sent me to advocate for–whether it’s fighting to codify Roe v. Wade into law, addressing the opioid crisis or fighting for an assault weapons ban,” she adds.

Still, national progressive groups and leaders took no chances in an all-out effort to ensure Omar beats Samuels and AIPAC. Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ind-Vt., campaigned for her the weekend before the primary, and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., endorsed her.

Our Revolution, the organization Sanders’s supporters established eight years ago after he lost the Democratic presidential nomination to Hillary Clinton, ran fierce anti-AIPAC ads, seeking money for Omar’s campaign even on the eve of the primary—by pointing out Republican mega-donors MAGA money funds AIPAC’s campaign finance committee.

“And when AIPAC spends its MAGA money, it uses racist, hateful, Islamophobic attacks to target pro-peace progressives. AIPAC has even endorsed over 100 Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 election results,” Our Revolution added.

Her challenger called Ilhan a ‘pawn for Hamas.’ It’s absolutely disgusting and shows how the right-wing pro-Israel lobby has targeted anyone calling for a ceasefire” in Israel’s murderous war on Gaza.

Samuels calls Omar “divisive” and charges she ignores the district. That’s the false characterization AIPAC used, successfully, to defeat Reps. Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri in Democratic primaries in deep-blue districts earlier this year’’

“Tone-policing women, especially women of color, has been a tactic that has been used to attack us.  I believe it is important for me to be decisive, to lead with integrity, to have clarity, to be accountable to my constituents, to be transparent, and to be able to communicate with my constituents in a way that I feel is necessary,” Omar replies to charges by Samuels that her “tone” is negative.

There are two other candidates in the 5th District race, Sarah Gad and Timothy Petersen, who have garnered little media attention and money.

There are other contests for congressional seats, mostly in Republican primaries, plus the seat of Sen. Amy Klobuchar, DFL-Minn., who seeks re-election. She faces four underfunded primary challengers and is expected to win easily in both August and November. Democrats in Districts 1, 3, 4, and 7 were unopposed in the primary.

Rep. Angle Craig, DFL-Minn., faces one primary challenger, Marc Ives in the 2nd district, which was drawn to be the state’s “swing” district in general elections. Ives has yet to file campaign finance reports. His campaign website features a March for Palestine poster.

“I am a Minnesota teacher who did not want to run for Congress,” he says. “But the thought of doing nothing while thousands of children were killed in Gaza made me sick. When I saw Angie Craig voted to give Israel $26 billion in weapons, I was determined to help whoever her Democratic challenger was. When I saw no one was standing up to her in the Democratic primary, I knew I had to give Minnesota voters an alternative.”

One uncontested race in August in both parties is the sole open seat, in the Hennepin County-based 3rd District between Democrat Kelly Morrison and Republican Ted Jude. They seek to succeed Democrat Dean Phillips, who mounted a futile presidential primary campaign against Joe Biden, running to the president’s right. Phillips won his last race by a five-to-four ratio.

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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.