Whoever wins the primary on Tuesday, August 13, in Minnesota’s Fifth District will also win the congressional seat. With over 700,000 residents, it is the most populous district in the United States and also one where Democratic victory is a tradition. Ilhan Omar is running for re-election here, and the Democratic Party is revealing all its contradictions.
The Democratic congresswoman is under attack for her critical stance on Israel and for battles considered “too left-wing” by the party leadership (Nancy Pelosi), such as public healthcare, green energy policies, and the cancellation of student debt.
Republicans have mobilized to defeat her, launching a call within their ranks: “We only need 5,000 votes, let’s vote for her opponent and get her out,” they proclaimed online. But why does Ilhan Omar provoke such opposition?
Since 2018, she has been winning without millionaire lobbyists, and the battles she has championed in Congress have exposed how certain issues are effectively opposed even within the Democratic Party itself. Initially, it was four women making a difference: Omar along with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York, Rashida Tlaib from Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley from Massachusetts. The iconic magazine The New Yorker celebrated their entry into Congress with a memorable cover, where a joyful group of women from diverse backgrounds and colors burst into the all-white, elderly male room of power, causing general astonishment.
This group was determined and aware of the historic opportunity opening up. Soon, Omar, Cortez, Tlaib, and Pressley formed a solid alliance, renaming themselves the “Squad.” With the 2022 elections, additional members joined the team: Greg Casar in Texas, Summer Lee in Pennsylvania, and Delia Ramirez in Illinois. Earlier arrivals to Congress included Jamal Bowman from New York and Cori Bush from Missouri in 2020.
The “Squad” has made its voice heard from Congress, particularly after October 7, when they catalyzed youth dissent that filled squares and universities to stop what they immediately called the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza, criticizing the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the regime of oppression and apartheid imposed on them, calling for an end to U.S. military funding for Israel with the slogan “Not with my taxes.” This protest has shaken the system to its core and prompted presidential candidate Kamala Harris to show willingness to listen in order not to lose the so-called “Gen Z” votes.
A photograph of “Squad” member Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress, circulated widely on the web: the only one in the entire congressional chamber on the day of Netanyahu’s speech, holding a sign reminding that the Israeli Prime Minister is accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court. These were labeled as anti-Semitic accusations by both the Democratic and Republican Party leadership, and of course by AIPAC, the bipartisan pro-Israel lobby, which in December 2023 allocated several million dollars with the explicit goal of removing “Squad” members from Congress, one by one.
So far, this objective has been achieved with New York Representative Jamal Bowman and Missouri Representative Cori Bush, both vigorous critics of the Gaza war and its high human and infrastructure costs. In both cases, AIPAC’s funding supported rival candidates and created disparaging media campaigns. Cori Bush has been particularly outspoken in denouncing the bipartisan pro-Israel lobby’s role in orchestrating her defeat. “I’m not going anywhere, I’m staying here to get you out of the halls of power,” she declared, words that have been condemned by President Biden, a longtime beneficiary of AIPAC’s financial support, a role that has only recently been openly discussed, particularly with the rise of pro-Palestinian protests in the U.S.
Now it’s Ilhan Omar’s turn, the outgoing congresswoman for Minnesota’s Fifth District, the first Muslim-American woman elected, a Somali refugee who became a U.S. citizen in 2000 at the age of 17, to face not only the election test but also AIPAC’s offensive. Omar was the first to break the silence on the role of this pro-Israel lobby, calling for transparency regarding its connections with Republicans and Democrats. She was accused of anti-Semitism and forced to apologize.