Primary results for anti-Israel Rep. Ilhan Omar expected to be slow coming in
Polls have closed in Minnesota, where Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is hoping to avoid the fate of fellow members of the anti-Israel ‘Squad’ who lost primary challenges.
Unlike the races that saw New York’s Jerome Bowman and Missouri’s Cori Bush pushed off the ballot in favor of more moderate Democrats, Omar’s main challenger, Don Samuels, does not appear to be backed by the deep pockets of the United Democracy Project. The super political action committee, affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, poured millions into defeating Bowman and Bush.
Results from the Omar-Samuels race are expected to take a while. Hennepin County, which includes all of Minneapolis and all but a few communities in the district, didn’t release any results from the presidential primary in March until 9:40 p.m., when the county released nearly all its votes.
County officials say they expect a similar timeline for Tuesday’s primary due to a legislative change enacted this year that allows for ballots to be dropped off until 8 p.m. local time, which has resulted in slower results reporting.
The winner in the overwhelmingly Democratic district will face Republican Dalia Al-Aqidi, an Iraqi American journalist and self-described secular Muslim who calls Omar pro-Hamas and a terrorist sympathizer.
Omar narrowly defeated Samuels in a 2022 primary.
A Somali American and Muslim — she came under fire from the Jamaican-born Samuels and others in her first term for comments that were widely criticized for invoking antisemitic tropes and suggesting Jewish Americans have divided loyalties. This time, Samuels has criticized her condemnation of the Israeli government’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
While Omar has also criticized Hamas for attacking Israel and taking hostages, Samuels says she’s one-sided and divisive. He’s also been stressing the public safety issues he focused on in 2022. The big issue at the time was policing in Minneapolis, where a former police officer murdered George Floyd in 2020.
