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Ilhan Omar Opens Up About Her Brutal Summer
The Minnesota congresswoman faces a well-funded challenger in her primary on Tuesday
On August 3, President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign launched a new 30-second attack ad against the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden. Biden has “embraced the policies of the radical left,” the video narrator warns, adding that he will champion their efforts to raise “trillions in new taxes” and give “amnesty for 11 million illegal immigrants.” Three figures whose cut-out images flank Biden for much of the clip represent that far-left coterie: Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. The ad ends with a simple plea: “The radical left has taken over Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. Don’t let them take over America.”
That Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, and Omar appeared in the video came as a surprise to no one; the progressive wing of the Democratic Party has for years been one of Trump’s favorite boogeymen. And while all three progressive torch-bearers were shown in the video, only one of them — Omar — would make headlines days later for failing to get her hometown newspaper’s endorsement. Two days after Trump’s ad launched, the editorial board at Minneapolis’ Star Tribune backed Omar’s opponent, lawyer Antone Melton-Meaux, for the August 11 primary in the Fifth District. “While Omar wants to lead a movement, Melton-Meaux seeks to serve the Fifth District,” the editorial board wrote. Even in its slight of the congresswoman, the state’s paper of record had to acknowledge her ambition.
There might not be a more remarkable figure in national politics than Omar. A Somali-American refugee who, in 2018, became one of the first two Muslim women in Congress, Omar has been touted by the progressive left as the embodiment of the American dream. But she’s also among the most vilified members of Congress, and though she’s the odds-on favorite to win the primary for her House seat, the fact that Melton-Meaux has nearly matched her in donations — $4.2 million for her; $4.1 million for him — proves there are some very important people on both the left and the right who’d love nothing more than to see her fail.
