Ilhan Omar’s Dem primary challenger Don Samuels says she’s ‘not cute enough’ and ‘doesn’t dress well enough’ to ignore constituents
Minneapolis City Councilman Don Samuels, who is challenging Rep. Ilhan Omar in the Democratic primary for her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, is facing backlash after appearing to insult her appearance in a chilling gaffe.
Samuels made the comment last week while appearing on a local political podcast: The break with Brodkorb and Beckywhile taking Omar to task for not holding more town halls with voters.
'Who do you think You Are? And who do you think you work for? You're not cute enough, you don't dress well enough, nothing about you is attractive enough to overcome that deficiency,” Samuels said.
Omar, a member of the so-called “Squad” of progressive House Democrats seeking re-election to a third term in 2024, denounced the comments in a statement.
“This is beneath the dignity of any adult, let alone one seeking public office,” Omar said. “It's reminiscent of the worst lies and misogyny we hear from people like Donald Trump, who think they can say anything about women and get away with it.
Don Samuels (left), who is challenging Rep. Ilhan Omar (right) in the Democratic primary for her seat in Congress, faces criticism after appearing to insult her appearance
Like Trump, instead of engaging in mature debate, Don relies on lies and sexism. We need civility now more than ever and Don's behavior should be alarming to anyone who agrees,” Omar added.
Samuels fired back, emphasizing that he was not talking about Omar personally but broadly characterizing any politician who ignores voters' concerns.
“This is an attempt to mischaracterize a comment about politicians talking the talk and walking the walk,” Samuels said in a post on X.
“If you listen to my full response, it becomes abundantly clear that I am broadly talking about politicians who put their own celebrity before the needs of their constituents.”
In his remarks, Samuels responded to a question about “Congressman Omar's lack of town halls,” but he continued with his response for several minutes before making the “cute” comment.
Immediately following the comment, podcaster Becky Scherr, a former aide to Rep. Tom Emmer, stammered briefly but said she “strongly agreed” and was “blown away” by his response.
Samuels, 74, is trying to position himself as a less divisive alternative to Omar, 41, who has built a national profile by taking sharp positions on a range of progressive issues.
Samuels nearly managed to dethrone Omar in the 2022 primaries, losing 50.3 percent to 48.2 percent. He claims the close race shows she can be beaten.
The big issue during their 2022 run was defunding the police movement, after George Floyd was killed in the city by a former Minneapolis police officer in 2020.
At the time, Omar strongly supported the movement and denounced former President Barack Obama for criticizing it as just a “snappy slogan.”
She posted on Twitter, now X: “It is no slogan just a policy requirement.'
Samuels, on the other hand, has opposed the defund movement and helped lead the opposition in it a proposal rejected that would have replaced the police with a revamped public safety agency.
In this election cycle, Samuels challenges Omar on her positions regarding the war between Israel and Hamas, accusing her of having a “predilection for division and conflict.”
Omar spoke out to condemn Hamas for attacking Israel and taking hostages – but her call for an immediate ceasefire after the Hamas attack and her harsh condemnation of Israel's response have angered Israel's supporters .
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has been actively trying to recruit a credible challenger to Omar.
Samuels nearly managed to dethrone Omar in the 2022 primaries, losing 50.3 percent to 48.2 percent. He claims the close race shows she can be beaten
Samuels said he believes the war will be a major concern for voters. He said Omar had “scared the Jewish community.”
He added that the community “understands that there is a latent and lurking anti-Semitic sentiment that must always be discouraged and that always surfaces in times of national crisis.”
Omar, for her part, has pushed to tie Samuels, a moderate Democrat, to hardline Republicans and Donald Trump, who is unpopular in her deep blue district.
She said “right-wing donors” were targeting her and accused Samuels of receiving hundreds of thousands in contributions from far-right donors and political action committees.
She said: “If we want to stop Donald Trump, we need record turnout, and I'm confident we can boost turnout, especially in a presidential election year.”