Ilhan Omar survives primary as other ‘Squad’ members are booted from Congress

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) survived her high-profile primary challenge on Tuesday, paving the way for her to be elected to a fourth term next year despite other progressive “Squad” colleagues losing their reelection bids. 

Omar defeated former former Minneapolis City Councilman Don Samuels, after garnering 56.2% of the vote with more than 95% of ballots tallied. The Associated Press called the race in her favor at 10:39 p.m. Eastern. 

The primary served as a rematch for the two as Omar narrowly defeated Samuels by just 2 percentage points in 2022. 

That prompted the incumbent to take things more seriously this time around, resulting in a fairly ugly primary between the two as they sparred over campaign donations, policy platforms, and most recently, calling into question where support for their campaigns is stemming.

Samuels, who entered the primary after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack against Israel, sought to make the House Democrat’s Pro-Palestinian stance a liability for Omar, accusing her of being a “pawn for Hamas.” The strategy was similar to the pro-Israel efforts that were largely responsible for the losses of fellow far-left Democratic Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Cori Bush (D-MO) earlier this year. 

Those losses also caused a surge in fundraising against Omar, particularly from pro-Israel groups and those who have proposed courting Republican voters to back Samuels, according to the Intercept.

Omar denounced those donations, calling it a “shameful” campaign tactic and accusing Samuels of actively seeking out GOP voters despite running as a Democrat.

“MN05 deserves someone who will champion their values, not seek support from vile MAGA Republicans like Laura Loomer and Royce White,” Omar said in a post on X, referring to the conservative political activist and Republican Senate candidate, respectively.

Samuels shot back, accusing Omar of also accepting donations from “Republican and Trump megadonors” and pointing to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission that showed Farouk Shami, an ally of former President Donald Trump, donating $6,600 to Omar in 2023.

Omar did not have to deal with such intense pro-Israel fundraising against her as Bush and Bowman did, with groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its political arm United Democracy only spending roughly $19,000 to boost her opponent. For comparison, AIPAC spent almost $9 million through its political arm to oust Bush and at least $14.5 million on ads attacking Bowman.

The incumbent has also benefitted from support from top left-wing lawmakers such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has campaigned alongside the incumbent in recent weeks.

Omar will go on to face Republican candidate Dalia al Aqidi, who ran unopposed on the GOP side. The race is expected to heavily favor the Democratic nominee, and the Cook Political Report has given the race a D+30 rating.