Rep. Ilhan Omar remains an international celebrity even as she fights to hold onto her district

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar recently visited Outta Wax, a vinyl record pressing business in south Minneapolis, part of an effort to engage with constituents and small business owners in the 5th Congressional District. 

Omar was late, and once she arrived, everyone had to wait for a Bloomberg documentary crew to set up. They were following her around for a day-in-the-life-style feature.

Omar, some aides, and the business’ founders — Sara Pette and Alex Stillman — stood in a circle and exchanged niceties in the open warehouse while the video crew set up.

Then they stood there some more, and Omar tapped away on her phone. Once the Bloomberg crew was ready — armed with a boom mic on a 10-foot pole — Omar turned on the charm, asking Pette and Stillman how they make the vinyl records and even doing a mock-interview with them that would later be captured on a bright blue vinyl record.

“(This) is an opportunity for us to visit with small business owners and interact with customers in a more of a fun, neutral way,” Omar told the Reformer shortly after the tour.

In the days surrounding the visit, Omar was in her other, more well-known political space: criticizing American and Israeli misdeeds, and at times providing easy fodder for her opponents with a verbal slip.

The day prior, Omar visited the University of Minnesota to praise the pro-Palestinian student protesters who set up an encampment, telling them she was “incredibly moved by your courage and bravery.”

On April 17, Omar grilled Columbia University President Nemat Shafik during a congressional committee about Palestinian and Muslim students who have been sanctioned for participating in pro-Palestine protests. She didn’t mention during the hearing that her daughter, Isra Hirsi, was one of the protesters.

Hirsi wrote on X that she was notified that she was one of three Barnard students suspended at Columbia “for standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide.”

Days later, Omar herself visited Columbia University’s pro-Palestine encampment, and she was questioned by a news crew about allegations of rising antisemitism during the protests.

“We should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry for all Jewish students, whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide,” Omar responded.

House Republicans are now attempting to censure her for her remarks. Omar’s spokeswoman has said the criticism is a bad-faith misconstruction of Omar’s statement and meant to distract the public from the ongoing atrocities in Gaza. 

Amid the frequent controversies, Omar, now in her third term, must balance her roles as an influential progressive voice in Washington and international spokeswoman for justice, with the more mundane aspects of being a member of Congress: helping constituents navigate federal bureaucracy, voting as a member of the House minority on a raft of legislation that will never become law and lifting up local businesses and nonprofits in the 5th District. 

The problem for Omar is that no matter how well she strikes a balance, her statements on international politics will always go viral, while the trips to the vinyl plant go mostly unrecorded. (Though Bloomberg subscribers may see it, if it makes the cut.)

Omar will again face a tough Democratic-Farmer-Labor primary opponent in former Minneapolis City Council Member Don Samuels, who is making the case that her headline-grabbing advocacy is leaving the city without competent leadership to address problems in north Minneapolis neighborhoods like his.

Samuels and Omar agree on many policy issues. In practice, however, in their focus and styles, Samuels and Omar would be far different members of Congress. 

Which means primary voters in the 5th District confront a deeper question than a grocery list of issues: Gaza is in ruins, while constituents want affordable health care and easier access to higher education.

All deserve full attention, but which candidate can effectively focus on both?

Omar declined an interview request for this story, and her campaign wouldn’t make someone available for an on-the-record interview.

A progressive Democrat who supports bold changes

Omar, 41, was born in Somalia, and as a young girl she and her family spent four years in a Kenyan refugee camp.

She became the first Somali-American state legislator in the country when she was elected to the Minnesota House in 2016, moving up to the U.S. House in 2018, where she also became the first African refugee to serve in Congress. 

The stakes of this election could hardly be higher for Omar. 

The election of former President Donald Trump wouldn’t just stall her legislative priorities, but would stir up even worse hatred than she faced during his first term. Trump regularly invoked Omar’s name to stir Islamophobic jeers and cheers among his supporters, who once responded with chants of “Send her back.” 

If Democrats take the House majority and Omar prevails over Samuels, she’d regain her seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which House Republicans stripped her of shortly after they gained control in early 2023 because of her past comments on Israel.

A return to the Foreign Affairs Committee is important to many of her constituents, as about 15% of the district is foreign born, and want a voice back on the committee.

Omar is being pragmatic about the presidential race. She’s said she will vote for President Joe Biden despite his staunch support for Israel. A Biden second term coupled with a Democratic majority would empower Omar to use her influence as deputy chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, where she can advocate for ambitious legislation on housing, health care and other progressive priorities.

Omar in a statement to the Reformer said she’s building on the legacy of Attorney General Keith Ellison, who held the seat before her, and the “progressive agitators like Paul Wellstone, to fight for a more progressive Minnesota and America. And we’ve been really successful in that mission. Every single day in Congress, I fight to deliver legislative victories our community can feel.”

Recently, Omar secured $54 million in funding for community projects in the 5th District, including $1 million to the small city of Hilltop, Minnesota, for a new storm shelter. “These investments are truly uplifting every corner of our district,” she said in a tweet. 

She touts the provisions she got included in the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — including parts of a zero waste law to end the use of toxic landfills — but she ultimately voted against the law. During a brief interview with the Reformer after the vinyl record tour, Omar said her vote against the law was a strategic effort to “make sure the communities that we represent that have constantly been the last ones invested in don’t get left behind.”

During her first year in office, she proposed a $1 trillion affordable housing bill with the goal of creating 12 million affordable housing units, which made some noise but gained little traction.

In her statement to the Reformer, Omar highlighted her MEALS Act — included in the March 2020 CARES Act — which allowed school districts flexibility in providing meals by allowing increased federal costs. Omar says the law fed nearly 30 million kids nationwide during the pandemic. (She also wrote a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in early 2022 seeking answers about widespread fraud in Minnesota’s version of the program, in what’s now known as the Feeding Our Future scandal.) 

A full-fledged campaign

With so much on the line, Omar is taking the Samuels challenge much more seriously than in 2022, when her primary campaign was nearly nonexistent. She had one field director, and her strategy was to ignore Samuels. 

Samuels came within about 2 percentage points of beating Omar — a surprise to many in Omar’s camp.

This time around, Omar has a full team on the ground knocking on doors, making calls and handing out fliers. The district’s DFL endorsing convention is Saturday, and Omar plans to abide by the results of the endorsement, according to a source close to Omar. Samuels says he will continue running if he’s not endorsed.

Omar’s campaign has sought to steamroll Samuels with a slew of early endorsements, including every Democratic U.S. House leader — such as Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — labor unions, the majority of the Minneapolis City Council, Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, and nearly all of the Minneapolis legislative delegation. 

There are some high profile names missing, including 5th District resident U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who are both key figures in the still-powerful DFL establishment but have found themselves opposite Omar on many high profile issues, from support for Israel to support for police. 

House Majority Leader Jamie Long, DFL-Minneapolis, who has endorsed Omar every election since her first run, said she gets results. 

“I know there’s some members of Congress who do their work and work hard and there are some members who fill seats, and Congresswoman Omar is one who works hard and gets results for our constituents,” Long said, adding that Omar can represent people of color and immigrants in in the district who have never “had a voice in Congress.”

D.A. Bullock, a filmmaker and Northside resident, said Omar’s refusal to be silenced is precisely what’s needed to represent the Black and immigrant communities of the 5th District.

“It’s important for those people to be able to speak out and speak to how we make this American experiment a better place for everyone,” Bullock said. “I applaud her for the bravery of that because I know that comes with a special form of pushback from those who want to keep things pretty much the same as they’ve always been.”

The perils of fame 

Omar is inspiring to some and angering to others. She can drive the conversation with a single tweet or remark, for better or worse.

She received a rigorous education in the perils of fame shortly after taking office, when she implied people’s support for Israel was motivated by money.

Responding to a tweet from a journalist about threats to punish Omar for being critical of Israel, Omar tweeted, “It’s all about the Benjamins baby.” Another person questioned who Omar thinks is paying U.S. politicians to be pro-Israel, she responded in a tweet “AIPAC!” — referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Omar later apologized and said she was learning about “the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.”

Thus began a cycle of tweet, outrage, defense from allies, an apology (or not) and repeat.

In 2021, Omar tweeted, “We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the US, Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.” This caused multiple Democrats to criticize her likening of actions by the U.S. and Israel to militant groups like Hamas and the Taliban. Omar didn’t back down. Fellow “Squad” member, New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, defended her. 

“Pretty sick & tired of the constant vilification, intentional mischaracterization, and public targeting of @IlhanMN coming from our caucus,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

What’s different now is the war in Gaza, which has eroded the bipartisan consensus around Israel, giving Omar and her allies a rare opportunity to shift American policy.

The congresswoman has long been a fierce critic of Israel and its treatment of Palestinians. With much of Gaza in ruins and the death toll mounting by the day, many in the Democratic mainstream have come around to where Omar has long stood. Many Democrats, including Biden, are now calling for a ceasefire and are critical of Israel’s actions.

But Israel has strong backers — including in the 5th District — who would love to see Omar gone. The political arm of the AIPAC has funded candidates it believes can unseat members of Congress who have been critical of Israel. The super PAC hasn’t donated to Samuels this election cycle, but his campaign has attempted to court the group for funds. Samuels’ campaign manager told The New York Times that $4 million would be enough to defeat Omar. 

Should she withstand the onset, Omar could become one of the more influential members of a new U.S. House majority on issues of global scope. First, though, she’ll need to connect with local businesses in the 5th, like the vinyl record pressing plant. Maybe you can catch it on Bloomberg.