Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota on Tuesday overcame a primary challenge from a well-funded opponent trying to make an issue of their national fame. Omar, who was seeking her second term in November, defeated Antone Melton-Meaux, a lawyer and mediator who has raised millions against anti-Omar money.
Melton-Meaux used the cash to paper the district and flood airwaves with his “Focus on the Fifth” message that Omar, a member of “The Squad“of four progressive female members of Congress, as out of contact with the Minneapolis 5th District.
Omar became one of the first two Muslim women to be elected to Congress in 2018, built on a national profile that began when the one-time refugee from Somalia was elected to the Minnesota Legislature just two years earlier. Her aggressive advocacy on liberal issues, and her desire to run for President Trump, made her even more prominent.
Omar rejected the Melton-Meaux attacks, saying they were funded by interests that wanted to get them out of Congress because they were effective. She also downplayed Melton-Meaux’s biggest fundraising for the vote, saying “Organized people will always hit organized money.”
Democratic U.S. Senator Tina Smith and Republican challenger Jason Lewis easily won their primaries in the only statewide race on the ballot. Elsewhere, in western Minnesota of the Conservative 7th District, former state senator Michelle Fischbach was the undersigned Republican in a three-way race for the right to challenge Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson. Peterson, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, is one of the GOP’s top targets for tipping a House chair in November.
After entering Congress with fanfare, Omar joined them early remarks on Israel and money that even some fellow Democrats called anti-Semitic, and found themselves apologizing. She also came under control when her marriage fell apart and she married her political adviser for months after she denied having an affair.
Republicans have also raised questions about continued payments to their new husband’s firm, though experts said they are not necessarily indecent.
In the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, police reform also emerged as a problem. Omar supported a push by a Minneapolis City Council majority to replace the city’s police department with something new. Melton-Meaux did not support that, but supported shifting some funding away from policing to more social service-oriented programs. Both approached the issue in personal ways, with Omar saying she wanted her son to grow up safely. Melton-Meaux, who is also Black, told a personal story of arrest while he was at the University of Virginia being searched by police for an assault suspect reportedly walking into his apartment building.
Progressive Democrats gained confidence in the chances of Omar’s re-election after primary victories last week by fellow “Squad” member Rashida Tlaib in Michigan and through Cori Bush, an activist Black Lives Matter, at a congress primarily in St. Louis. Louis area.
Progressives also maintained momentum from the renewed focus on racial and economic justice following Floyd’s death.
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