A Republican has not won the heavily liberal Minneapolis-area congressional seat in many decades, making Tuesday’s primary the de facto election. The seat opened when Ellison launched a last-minute bid for attorney general, leaving the seat after six terms.
Omar leaned heavily on her biography to win the race to replace him, positioning herself as the candidate best equipped to counter President Donald Trump in Congress. She defeated former House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and state Sen. Patricia Torres Ray, among other candidates, to advance to the November election.
Omar won her state House seat in 2016 after defeating a well-regarded, 44-year incumbent in a Democratic primary. She’s served just a single term in the House, stuck in the minority and boasting few legislative accomplishments.
But she brought undeniable star power to the race, riding the fame from her history-making 2016 election to a spot on the cover of TIME Magazine and a cameo in a recent Maroon 5 music video.
She won late support from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York City congressional candidate who unseated a longtime incumbent in June.
Congratulations to her. She’s a remarkably articulate, and from all appearances remarkably intelligent, woman.
Now we just have to hope that Trump, Sessions, and Miller don’t try to revoke her citizenship and deport her and her family.
And she teaches her children well -
‘Trump’s “Muslim ban,” which blocked travel and immigration from Somalia and six other countries … Trump was on the TV as she rushed out the door this morning, Omar tells me. Her four-year-old daughter turned off the set. “He doesn’t want us in his home, so we don’t want him in our home,” the girl said.’
I think she’ll have a lot to learn in congress. I really hope Pelosi and Sanders and the rest of the old guard help her ramp up.
She needs to become a master parliamentarian. She needs to assemble a real staff and learn how to put them to good use. She needs to learn every nuance of the way power is shared between civilian, military, and corporate leadership. And all of this is entirely separate from mastering policy.
The most dangerous sharks in the world don’t swim in the ocean. They walk the streets of Washington, D.C., and they will absolutely steamroll her if she doesn’t prevent it.
I wonder when Empty Dumpty will attack her on Twitter? Another powerful black woman!
Things like this and like Hallquist in Vermont give me hope that this country will survive and prosper beyond the corrupt (mal)administration currently camping out in the WH.