MINNEAPOLIS – Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota defeated a well-funded primary challenger on Tuesday, providing a clean sweep of fighting for re-election for the group of first-time Democratic congresswomen of color, known as the Squad, and sent a message to Washington about the continuing force of the party’s new progressive voices.
Ms. Omar, who made history in 2018 by becoming the first Somali-American to be elected to Congress, as well as the first naturalized citizen of African birth and the first woman of color from Minnesota to do so, secured the victory after spending her first two years in the Washington spotlight.
Her unabashed embrace of left-wing politics has won her loyal followers, both in Minnesota and across the country. However, she has become a lightning rod for Conservatives and has drawn criticism from some Democrats, particularly after several episodes in 2019 in which she was accused of anti-Semitic remarks.
In the deep-blue district, Ms. Omar’s primary success on Tuesday is almost certain that she will serve a second term in Congress. On Tuesday, she defeated her main opponent, Antone Melton-Meaux, by more than 15 percentage points.
“In Minnesota, we know that organized people will always hit organized money,” Ms. Omar said wrote on Twitter. ‘Last night our movement just didn’t win. We deserve a mandate for change. Despite outside efforts to defeat us, we broke records again. Despite the attacks, our support has only grown. ”
Mr. Melton-Meaux had received extensive financial support from national groups in hopes of seeing the incumbent fired. In the second quarter of 2020, Mr. Melton-Meaux increased six times as much as Ms. Omar did, and an analysis by The MinnPost showed about 20 percent of his large-dollar donations came with bundles of help from pro-Israel political action committees. Mr. Melton-Meaux also received the distinction of The Star Tribune, the region’s flagship.
But Democrats have called for Ms Omar’s help in recent weeks, making bedfellows of progressives such as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and establishment figures such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The race was more than a referendum on its first term, and was fueled by the two factors that have reshaped all facets of political life in 2020: the coronavirus pandemic and the national protests over racial inequality and police brutality that it began in May after George Floyd was assassinated in Minneapolis. The unrest was particularly acute in Minneapolis, where fires and chaos raged for days. One area of the police department was burned to the ground.
Mrs Omar and Mr Melton-Meaux both stressed the need for social justice and an end to systemic racism. But Ms Omar’s vision of progressive change went further, as it included calls to completely restructure the police department, and money down to investing in social services.
The virus also forced most of the campaign online and offline. Some observers thought that the financial advantage of Mr. Melton-Meaux was able to score further as he flooded airwaves for weeks.
Mr. Melton-Meaux had tried to turn the election into a referendum on Mrs Omar’s national profile, using a similar argument that did not work in Michigan, when Representative Rashida Tlaib defeated a challenger who tried to cast her as too progressive. and nationally oriented for the district.
On election day, Ms. Omar made several public appearances, a sign that her campaign was nothing but applicable.
At noon, she directed voters to a market in Minneapolis, ordering Mexican food and food with staff without any sign of worry.
“Everything in this primary has created problems, from the money that comes to the open xenophobic messages,” she said. ‘But this is the fifth. This is Minneapolis. This is the place to not only give an open statement about how excited they are to have immigrants in their neighborhood, but they voted for one in Congress. ”
Later, at an evening campaign event in Dinkytown, a neighborhood in Minneapolis, where Mrs. Omar liked to spend election nights talking, young supporters gathered as people rolled past in cars and shouted “Ilhan!” Writing. and “We love you!”
Britt D’Arezzo, 22, said Mrs Omar’s national perceptions were not responsible for her retail policy and her visibility at home.
“They do not know their local activism,” Ms D’Arezzo said. ‘They don’t see themselves running around and just hanging out at corners. They do not see the way when she joins us. ”
Ms. Omar’s victory was one of the definitive election priorities for progressive organizations in the primary 2020 season, which began with abysmal disappointment for her but has since been reversed. When the leading progressive candidates, Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, lost the party’s presidential nomination to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden jr., Some had written off the left flank of Democrats – minimizing it as a collection of activists and votes on social media, not something to appeal to mass elections.
In the months since, a string of rebellious victories in down-ballot races – and the strong re-election of people like Ms Omar, Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York – point to a more complicated picture , and a wing of the party that remains ascendant.
In recent months, challengers supported by groups such as the Justice Democrats and the Sunrise Movement have won primary seats in New York, Illinois and Missouri. The victory in St. Louis was particularly notable, the first time a Black challenger was able to oust a member of the Black Congress, a key bloc of the House of Representatives’ power representing many deep-blue Democratic districts.
Together, the triumphs through challenges and primary victories by insiders have paved the way for political movements on the left. If you can get in the office and stay there, people like Ms Omar argue, you can prove to voters that your proposed reform is not radical.
Justice Democrats also issued a statement on Tuesday on the success of Ms Omar. In recent weeks, Democrats have rallied across the entire spectrum to support the official, creating a rare alliance between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the groups trying to support her left.
