- Report Ilhan Omar struck and returned competitive primary challenge in the Democratic Farmer-Labor party of lawyer and mediator Antone Melton-Meaux in the Fifth District of Minnesota.
- Omar, a former state representative, was elected in the solid Democratic district of Minneapolis in 2018 and gained a large national profile as a leading progressive voice.
- Melton-Meaux almost agreed with Omar in both fundraising and campaigning, and received the support of several leading politicians and local leaders in the community.
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Polls close in Minnesota at 8 a.m. Central Time and 9 p.m. Eastern Time.
The stakes:
Prominent first term Rep. Ilhan Omar beats a high bet, competitive primary challenge in the Democratic Farmer-Labor party back from lawyer and mediator Antone Melton-Meaux in Minnesota’s Fifth Congress District.
Omar, a former state representative, was elected to the 2018 Minneapolis-based Democratic District Democratic District, replacing former Rep. Keith Ellison. A former refugee, Omar made history as the first Somali-Americans elected to the U.S. Congress and, along with Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, one of the first two Muslim women to be elected to serve in Congress.
Tlaib, Omar, and two other young progressive women of color elected to safe seats in the blue wave of 2018, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and Rep. Ayacha Pressley of Massachusetts, soon formed an alliance in Congress and became known as The Squad.
The members of the Squad are competent communicators who have positioned themselves as leaders and spokespersons for a new generation of progressive leaders with an agenda that puts the working class first. They have also been the target of sexist and racist attacks, including by President Donald Trump, and have received much criticism from Republicans and from within their own party.
Omar, in particular, has come under scrutiny for some of the more controversial parts of her record, including over remarks about Israel that some interpreted as anti-Semitic and votes “present” over a resolution condemning the Armenian genocide. Over the course of this election cycle, she has paid out $ 1.65 million in campaign funds to her husband’s political advisory office for digital and radio advertising, financial choices that, although not illegal, have raised some eyebrows.
Melton-Meaux, formerly a law firm in Washington, DC, and Minneapolis, now has an independent meditation business in Minneapolis. He claimed that Omar was too focused on building her own profile, and that her various controversies prevented her from serving the district most effectively and being an untenable distraction for the district.
“We need people in Congress who want to do things – not those who get down to fighting with Donald Trump on Twitter or even with their own party,” Melton-Meaux said on his campaign website. “I will do the hard work that comes along with the demands of public office while staying Focused On The Fifth.”
The congresswoman and her representatives serve that she is not as partisan and divisive as some make her out to be, claiming that the work she does behind the scenes reflects her in legislation and coalition building.
In interviews with the Minnesota Reformer and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, she said that in addition to serving in a leadership as the whip of the Progressive Caucus of Congress, she sponsored 34 bills and passed a dozen legislative amendments. , causes significant economic and racial justice in collaboration with other legislators, and, Omar told the reformer, has even found common ground with some fellow millennial Republicans in the House.
Omar was the most threatened member of The Squad after Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib easily lost Democratic primary challengers of their own in elections earlier this summer.
Unlike the primary challenger of Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib, Melton-Meaux has almost matched Omar in both the lenders and campaign, and has received the support of several leading politicians and local leaders in the community.
Melton-Meaux provided $ 4.1 million and spent $ 3.4 million on this cycle compared to $ 4.2 million raised and $ 3.5 million spent on Omar, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Outside pro-Israel PACs have also spent a lot in the neighborhood on behalf of Melton-Meaux, the center said.
The editorial of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, which has been critical of Omar throughout her tenure, has endorsed Melton-Meaux, along with locally and nationally recognized civil rights activists, including Josie Johnson and former Minneapolis NAACP President Nekima Levy-Armstrong .
Seven House members and three Democrats have lost nominations this year. Fellow Democrats Rep. Dan Lipinski of Illinois, rep. Eliot Engel of New York, and most recently, Rep. Missouri’s Lacy Clay lost all her seats to primary challengers this cycle.
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