U.S. Rep Ilhan Omar faces Northsider Don Samuels in Aug. 9 primary

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar faces challenger Don Samuels in the Aug. 9 Democratic primary. Photo by David Pierini

By David Pierini, Editor

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar may never feel the ease of an uncontested election. But in her young career, election-day victories have come easy for the progressive firebrand in the reliably left Fifth District.

Northsider Don Samuels, her opponent in the Democratic primary on Aug. 9, brings to the challenge the swagger of an experienced office holder and an inkling there’s an “exhausted majority” wanting a representative who will play well with others.

“We agree on many basic Democratic issues,” said Samuels, a former Minneapolis City Councilman and former director on the Minneapolis Board of Education. “We agree that health care is a human right, we agree on a woman’s right to choose, combating climate change, supporting unions and expanding voting rights. In these divisive times, people are demanding a different approach to leadership.

“What I’m offering is an alternative voice of sanity, stability and calmness. I have confidence that the exhausted majority exists and will come out and vote for me.”

Anton Melton-Meux campaigned from a similar script two years ago. Despite a war chest north of $4 million, Melton-Meux lost the primary by 20 points.

Jeremy Slevin, a campaign spokesperson for Omar, said Samuels’ comments are offensive and suggest his style is anything but unifying.

“(The) implication that Ilhan Omar doesn’t have ‘sanity’ or ‘stability’ is insulting and below the belt,” he said.

Slevin said Omar’s supporters predict a primary win and an easy return to Washington. Samuels says not so fast.

Two sides on the police issue

Samuels has name recognition and enthusiastic support from establishment leaders who favor his stance on police reform. Where Omar believes in diverting money from hiring more officers and directing it to programs that address root causes of violent crime, Samuels thinks communities need an adequate force of armed officers to ensure safety.

Samuels calls her a leading voice of the movement to “defund police,” sticky words that tend to strike worry in the minds of some residents as Minneapolis, like other cities across the nation, deal with a shortage of cops and relentless violence in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd.

“With regard to our challenge locally, my opponent rebuked President Obama, who like me believes that defunding the police was a snappy stroke slogan that only alienates voters and makes real reform more difficult,” Samuels said. “She responded that defunding the police isn’t a snappy slogan but a policy demand.”

Samuels is, himself, exhausted by the violence he has witnessed on the Northside and believes police reform should include a robust number of officers on the street. He and his wife, Sondra, were part of a group that successfully sued the city over a lack of protection as the staffing levels dwindled well below what the city charter called for. He also campaigned against a ballot initiative that would create the type of holistic public safety model Omar supports.

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, who recently convened a town hall meeting at North High, is running for a third term in Congress. Photo by David Pierini

Omar’s view, too, is shaped by witnessing violence. Her family escaped a civil war in Somalia and after four years in a refugee camp, they secured asylum in the U.S. and eventually settled in Minneapolis.

“My first year in Minnesota, I saw a person shot at Peavy Park, dead on the floor, and six months later, I watched Minneapolis Police put 38 bullets into the body of a mentally disabled Somali immigrant who didn’t speak English,” Omar said at a June 29 town hall meeting at North High. “I hold both of those truths. It was traumatic to witness community violence, but it is also traumatic to witness that happen in the hands of those who have the authority to protect and serve in our communities.”

After Floyd’s murder, Omar authored a series of bills that passed the House to reform law enforcement at the federal level, prohibiting racial profiling, ending qualified immunity for police and banning the use of chokeholds and no-knock warrants.

The headlines she draws for the occasional impolite Tweet, the death threats from conservative voters or a recent festering spat with a Colorado representative who throws Islamaphobic jabs at Omar, has overshadowed a productive record, her supporters say.

In March, Omar announced her office secured $17 million in federal funds for

projects in her district, including $2 million earmarked for the expansion of North Commons Park.

On police reforms, she has introduced bills calling for universal health care, student debt cancelation and affordable housing for all. Her bill on increasing access to school meals was passed into law as part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

“I still believe in a world where the working class is given what they’re owed,” Omar said on Facebook when she announced her run for re-election. “A world where we address the economic and income inequality issues that are holding American workers back and systematically forcing families into poverty.

“I still believe in a world where we choose peace over war, diplomacy over violence, and the human rights of all people over the profits of the military-industrial complex. A world where we put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy.”

Don Samuels believes he has momentum correct stance on police reform to challenge the August primary. Photo by David Pierini

The horse race

A poll released by Omar’s campaign shows her in a 39-point lead over Samuels. His campaign released a poll with different results that suggested her approval rating is around 42 percent and that many voters are undecided.

Polls are often wrong and what matters to voters can shift with the news. Both campaigns released their polls prior to a number of controversial rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court, including the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the federal protection of women’s reproductive rights.

Activists and women's groups are organizing to rally people to vote and they expect significant blowback at the polls.

On July 19, Omar was arrested for civil disobedience during a protest outside the Supreme Court. Earlier in July, she co- sponsored a bill that passed the House to codify reproductive rights.

Pro-choice voters can count on both Omar and Samuels to support choice. Voters will then need to decide whose temperament meets the moment.