One member of the so-called “Squad” in the House of Representatives has survived a challenge in the Democratic primary, though not by much.
On Tuesday, Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar won her primary election against Don Samuels, a city councilman in Minneapolis.
While she will now proceed onto the general election in November as she seeks re-election, it was a tight race for her. Omar garnered 56.2% of the votes compared to Samuels’ 42.9%. The final vote tally saw her win by a little more than 16,000 votes.
In advancing past her primary, Omar avoided the fate of two of her Squad colleagues.
Representatives Cori Bush from Missouri and Jamaal Bowman from New York both lost to their primary opponents.
Like Bowman and Bush, Omar has sharply criticized how Israel has handled its ongoing war with the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza. Bowman and Bush went down to opponents who were backed by the United Democracy Project, a super PAC that’s aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s political arm.
The same fate didn’t play out for Omar, who eked out the victory.
During a victory speech she gave following the results of the election, Omar said she’s “incredibly honored by this victory [and] honored to represent the people who welcomed me and my family as refugees to this incredible state.”
In her speech, Omar reflected on how difficult this primary race was, saying:
“This campaign has been one of the ugliest, most disgusting campaigns against me that I have ever witnessed. I hope they reflect in the shameful way they decided to divide our district and the incredible people we are grateful to represent.”
Just two years ago, Samuels suffered a slight 2% loss to Omar in a primary election. He ran on a platform that was much more centrist than Omar, who is considered one of the most progressive members of the House.
On multiple occasions during the campaign, Samuels said that Omar was the divisive one, as she sparked controversy for some of the comments she made about Israel.
He criticized her as well for voting against the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which was crafted in part by the party’s leader, President Joe Biden.
The Minnesota Democratic Party endorsed Omar for the seat, and she also had a large fundraising advantage that she used against Samuels.
Omar also had the support of many prominent progressives in Congress, including Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who held a rally at her high school alma mater.
Pro-Israel groups didn’t play a huge part in this race, according to federal campaign records. Samuels, though, says he received a spike in donations last week after Bush lost her primary in St. Louis.
Speaking to voters before the polls closed on Tuesday, Samuels said:
“We had about $200,000 in random donations after Cori [Bush] lost. There’s a movement happening here and other parts of the country away from the far left to a more collaborative style.”