US elections 2024: Congresswoman Ilhan Omar defeats pro-Israel Republican opponent
US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar easily defeated her Republican opponent in her congressional race on Tuesday night, in a win that comes after facing an attempt by pro-Israel groups to unseat her in the primary election this past August.
Omar, who represents Minnesota's fifth district, faced Republican challenger Dalia al-Aqidi, an Iraqi-born immigrant who describes herself as a "secular Muslim" and is pro-Israel, in contrast to Omar, who is a vocal proponent of Palestinian rights.
Omar won 76.4 percent of the vote compared to Aqidi’s 23.6 percent, according to the Associated Press, which called the race with 87 percent of the votes counted.
Prior to the November 2024 election, Omar faced an offensive by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), a pro-Israel lobbying group, during her August primary.
Despite this, she was able to defeat her opponent, Don Samuels, and raised triple the amount of funds that he did. Omar raised $1.6m for the primary election, compared to Samuels' $535,000.
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In the 2022 election, Omar defeated her Republican opponent by a margin of 50 points in a congressional seat that is represented largely by Democratic voters.
The Muslim-American congresswoman is the first Somali-born member of the US Congress. When she was first elected, she was immediately launched into the national spotlight.
Throughout her congressional career, Omar has faced a slew of attacks from pro-Israel groups as well as fellow lawmakers for her remarks criticising Israel and supporting Palestinian rights.
Last year, Omar came under fire from lawmakers, including some in her own party, for a February 2019 tweet that said US support for Israel amongst politicians was “all about the Benjamins”.
Omar later apologised for her remarks, saying that she was learning about “the painful history of antisemitic tropes”. But she was still removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
She has also opposed US military aid to Israel and is a frequent critic of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the war on Gaza.
Former US President Donald Trump has attacked Omar by falsely accusing her of minimising the tragedy of the 9/11 attacks.
In 2023, Middle East Eye interviewed members of Omar's staff who said the congresswoman had received thousands of threats since entering office in 2019.
In December 2021, Omar publicly shared a message received by the office which she blamed emphatically on Republican rhetoric.
"We see you, you Muslim sand n***** b****," the message began.
"Don't worry, there are plenty who would love the opportunity to take you off the face of this f***ing earth," the voicemail continued. "You will not live much longer b****, I can almost guarantee you that."
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