Ilhan Omar primary challenge turns ugly as ‘Squad’ Democrat seeks fourth term

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is accusing her Democratic challenger of actively courting Republican voters as well as big-money groups to boot her from office as the incumbent faces a high-profile primary Tuesday.

Omar, a prominent member of the “Squad,” is facing former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels, who she defeated by just 2 percentage points in 2022. The primary between the two has turned ugly, with both Democrats trading jabs about 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, has sought to make the House Democrat’s Pro-Palestinian stance a liability for Omar, accusing her of being a “pawn for Hamas.”

Samuels’s attacks against Omar come as two of her left-wing colleagues, Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), have been ousted from their seats after pro-Israel groups spent millions of dollars against them.