Former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels is launching a bid to defeat U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, giving the Democrat a prominent challenge from within her own party.
In an interview with the Star Tribune, Samuels contrasted his leadership style with Omar's. He noted her support of last fall's Minneapolis ballot question that could have replaced the city's police department with a new public safety agency following the police killing of George Floyd.
The question divided some of Minnesota's leading Democrats before Minneapolis voters rejected the measure last November, with 56% voting against the change and close to 44% supporting the shift.
"Representative Omar has demonstrated she's out of touch with the residents of Minneapolis in the last election," said Samuels, 72. "And I've shown that I was very much in touch with the sentiments of the citizenry."
A spokesperson for Omar's campaign declined to comment Tuesday on Samuels' entry into the race.
Two years ago, Omar was opposed by relative unknown Antone Melton-Meaux, who raised a significant amount of money and was even endorsed by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. However, Omar still prevailed by 18 percentage points in that primary contest. I have no idea if Samuels will have the same fundraising prowess as Melton-Meaux, but he will definitely be more of a known commodity given his tenure on the Minneapolis City Council. And his advocacy in maintaining funding for the Minneapolis Police Dept. is far more inline with that city's residents than Omar's radical beliefs that the police should not only be defunded but abolished altogether.
One thing working against Samuels is the Fifth got that much more blue after redistricting. Perhaps the "lightest blue" precincts in CD5 before 2022 (Hopkins and a portion of Edina) were swallowed up by the Third Congressional District.
I haven't donated to a Democrat campaign in my entire life, but this is one race where I'd be tempted to do so.
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