Rep. Ilhan Omar is the third “Squad” member to claim victory in her primary race this cycle, defeating her challenger Antone Melton-Meaux.
Ms. Omar’s victory Tuesday night is the latest in a string of victories for the far-left wing of the Democratic Party this cycle.
“Rep. Omar ran a people-powered race and got a people-powered result. She put people who are on the margins of today’s economy at the center of her campaign, fighting for a Homes Guarantee, Medicare for All, and bold solutions for climate change,” Movement Politics Director for People’s Action Ryan Greenwood said in a statement Wednesday morning. “That’s how she beat back a corporate-friendly primary challenger from the right.”
The competitive race had Ms. Omar, Minnesota Democrat, fending off harsh criticism from her well-funded opponent on her controversial celebrity-status that, he argued, left her out of touch with the district.
Ms. Omar soundly defeated Mr. Melton-Meaux Tuesday night, with 57.4% of the vote to his 39.2%.
“Tonight, our movement didn’t just win. We earned a mandate for change. Despite outside efforts to defeat us, we once again broke turnout records,” the freshman congresswoman tweeted after her win. “Despite the attacks, our support has only grown.”
“It’s about standing up to a President who promised to ban an entire group of people from this country based solely on their Muslim identity, calls our countries of origin ‘s–hole countries,’ and threatened to send us back to where we came from,” she added.
Ms. Omar is one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress and has become a star among far-left activists who believe Democrats need to do more for the working class and the party has become too beholden to corporate America.
However, the congresswoman has had a number of controversies in her first term for comments she made about pro-Israel advocacy groups and Jewish lawmakers being loyal to the state of Israel, a government she’s a vocal critic of, that many said were anti-semitic.
Ms. Omar, along with the other “Squad” members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, are also locked in a feud with President Trump.
Both Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and Ms. Tlaib defeated their primary challenges this year.
