Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez survived her primary. Rashida Tlaib did, too. Now it’s Ilhan Omar’s turn on Tuesday — and the Minnesota congresswoman faces the stiffest challenge of any member of the Squad.
Omar (D-Minn.), one of the group’s four liberal women of color who were first elected in 2018, has drawn national attention with her repeated clashes with President Donald Trump — as well as accusations of using anti-Semitic tropes in articulating her position on Israel. Now, her opponent is trying to turn that notoriety into a liability, saying it’s come at the expense of the needs of her Minneapolis district.
Bankrolled by pro-Israel donors, Antone Melton-Meaux has spent more than twice as much as Omar on television ads, and outside groups have kicked in to increase his advantage.
That’s not the only interesting race on Tuesday night. House Republicans have a high-stakes primary runoff of their own in northwest Georgia, where they are on the verge of adding perhaps their most controversial member yet. GOP leaders raced to disavow Marjorie Taylor Greene in June after POLITICO uncovered videos in which she made racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic comments. But they’ve done little to block her from coming to Congress over the past two months, and her matchup Tuesday against neurosurgeon John Cowan is a toss-up.