Omar holds slight lead as first votes trickle in from Minneapolis area

Minnesota election officials have begun releasing initial results for the state’s 5th congressional district primary, showing Rep. Ilhan Omer holding a razor-thin lead over challenger Don Samuels in the closely watched race.

With just under 10 percent of precincts from the Minneapolis-area district reporting, Omar has 50.8% of the approximately 6,000 votes counted, to Samuels 47.6%, a difference of fewer than 200 votes, according to tallies posted by the state.

Omar, among the Congress’s most strident anti-Israel voices, narrowly beat out former Minneapolis City Council member Samuels, a more centrist liberal, in the 2022 primary.