They burst into the news six years ago and have barely disappeared from the headlines since – but what will 2024 mean for the so-called Democratic ‘Squad’?
The group was founded in Congress during the 2018 midterm elections, held halfway through Donald Trump’s term in the White House.
It emerged as what Democrats saw as a progressive corrective and response to the former president’s populist conservative policies.
All four original members were minority women who were younger than the average member of the U.S. House of Representatives, which was 58 years old.
In successive congressional elections, more and more progressive politicians entered the House of Representatives and joined the group, with the slogan: “I Stand With The Squad.”
The new additions were either welcomed by the existing members themselves or linked to the growing section of legislators by the media.
Representatives Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley were all elected to the House of Representatives during the 2018 midterms, in what was seen as a progressive response to Donald Trump’s presidency. They were immediately called ‘the team’
In this election cycle, however, the selection is starting to shrink for the first time.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) was the first to fall after being defeated in the June primary after just one term.
Then, Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo) also lost her primary in August amid a massive push from the pro-Israel group to oust pro-Palestinian members of Congress.
The 2024 elections bring many questions for the future of the country – and Congress – including whether the “squad” will maintain its influence.
Here, DailyMail.com breaks down the four main members of ‘The Squad’ and how the races lean in their respective districts:
While members have been added to the roster over the past two election cycles, the 2024 cycle has seen the group’s first losses after progressive Reps. Cori Bush (left) and Jamal Bowman (right) were defeated in their respective primaries.
AOC – New York’s 14th Congressional District
Republican candidate Tina Forte is taking on the big challenge of trying to unseat the team’s most famous member — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
AOC isn’t likely to go anywhere in her very safe blue New York City neighborhood, which includes the eastern portion of The Bronx and an area of north-central Queens.
The 35-year-old congresswoman won her primary elections this year with 81.1 percent of the vote and is on her way to a fourth term.
AOC won her seat in Congress in the 2018 elections, when she received a whopping 78.2 percent of the vote. Her margin of victory has decreased since then, but still remains very large.
The millennial lawmaker won her second term in 2020 with 71.6 percent of the vote and a third in 2022 with 70.6 percent.
There are very unlikely chances of an upset for AOC in November.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the most well-known team member. When she was elected at age 29, she was the youngest woman to ever serve in the U.S. Congress
Ilhan Omar – Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District
Possibly the team’s second most recognizable member, American-Somali Rep. Ilhan Omar, 42, faces Republican candidate Dalia al-Aqidi in the general election.
The Minnesota congresswoman became the first to ever wear a hijab on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and was one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, along with fellow team member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
Omar had a too-close-for-comfort primary against Democrat Don Samuels this cycle, with about 16,000 votes separating the two in their August election.
But Minnesota’s Fifth District is by far the bluest district in the state, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of Democrat+30, meaning Omar is highly unlikely to be ousted by her Republican rival in the Nov. 5 election. Omar’s district includes Minneapolis, as well as several other cities in the area.
In her first election to the House of Representatives in 2018, Omar won with 78.0 percent over Republican Jennifer Zielinski, who earned 21.7 percent.
Omar is the first Somali-American to serve in Congress.
Her family fled Somalia to escape the civil war and spent four years in a refugee camp in Garissa County, Kenya.
Rep. Ilhan Omar often faces the wrath of Republicans for her anti-Semitic comments. Omar was the first woman to ever wear a hijab on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives
The future congresswoman’s family was granted asylum in the US and arrived in New York in 1995.
Her family lived for a time in the Washington, DC suburb of Arlington, Virginia before moving to and settling in Minneapolis, which she now represents in the House of Representatives.
Omar has faced controversy during her time in Congress for her criticism of Israel.
Like the rest of the team, Omar is staunchly pro-Palestinian.
Omar speaks with teammate Rashida Tlaib during a press conference on March 13, 2019
Rashida Tlaib – Michigan’s 12th congressional district
The first Palestinian-American congresswoman overwhelmingly won her election to represent Michigan’s 13th District in 2018. She received 82.4 percent of the votes.
In 2020, she won the general election with 78.1 percent and in 2022 with 70.8 percent.
Her margin of victory has decreased by several points each election cycle, but it is as yet unclear how she will fare against Republican James Hooper on November 5.
Tlaib’s district includes Dearborn and other western Detroit suburbs, a very blue area. She ran unopposed in her primary this cycle.
In the 2020 census, Michigan lost a seat in the House of Representatives, and in 2023, Rep.’s jurisdiction changed. Tlaib in the 12th Congressional District.
Tlaib, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, also helped lead a coalition of Muslim and other anti-Israel voters in the presidential primaries, voting “indeterminate” instead of President Joe Biden.
It was a show of widespread protest against Biden’s continued support for ally Israel in its war against Hamas terrorists operating from Gaza.
No lawmaker has been so vocal in criticizing U.S. support for Israel.
Representative Rashida Tlaib is the first Palestinian-American elected to Congress. She is an outspoken supporter of the Palestinian people and staunchly anti-Israel
Representative Ayanna Pressley rounds out the original four “squad” members. Compared to the other members of the group, she keeps a relatively low profile
Ayanna Pressley – Massachusetts’s 7th congressional district
Pressley also was elected for the first time in the 2018 midterm elections, winning her primary against fellow Democrat Michael Capuano by a margin of 17.2 percent.
She ran unopposed in the general election and sailed easily to her first term in the House of Representatives.
Pressley’s district includes roughly three-quarters of the very liberal northeastern city of Boston and some of its northern and southern suburbs, which are also very progressive. There are no signs that the area will turn around anytime soon.
The congresswoman’s first reelection was easy: There were no challengers in her primary, after which 86.6 percent of people in her district voted for her for another term.
Pressley also had no primary challengers in 2022 and easily defeated her Republican rival with 84.6 percent.
No one ran in this year’s primary or general election, so Pressley is well on her way to her fourth term, along with the rest of the team.