Rep. Ilhan Omar is facing a Democratic primary challenger in former Minneapolis City Councilman Don Samuels, who says her voters have “grown tired” of her antics.
The Jamaican-born toymaker and father of four says he didn’t immigrate to the US to see it grow into political factions that can’t talk to each other. That’s why he’s determined to wipe out people like Omar.
“She was basically created on our side, a far left version of what is the far right,” said Samuels, 75. “We need leaders who can bring us together, she continues to pull us apart.”
Samuels narrowly lost to Omar in the 2022 primary by two percentage points.
Rep. Ilhan Omar is facing a Democratic primary challenger in former Minneapolis City Councilman Don Samuels, who says her voters have “grown tired” of her antics
The typically united Democrats in the House of Representatives are torn on the issue of Israel. Samuels says Omar bears much of the blame.
“It comes from a very immature interpretation of reality that tends to be dualistic,” Samuels said.
‘There are good boys and bad boys. There’s pro-police and no-police. There is pro-genocide and anti-genocide.”
On Tuesday, the sister of Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., Susheela Jayapal, lost a primary for a Democratic seat in Oregon.
Samuels and his wife Sondra sued the city of Minneapolis and Mayor Jacob Frey in 2021 for failing to protect and police the city after anti-police protests led to the City Council promising to dismantle the police department.
Samuels said the couple has often opened their home to local children in the city’s embattled north side, where they live and advocate for better crime-fighting measures.
“Omar adds fuel to the fire of discontent and becomes very popular because it generates a lot of intensity but loses many of its voters and pushes others into silence and alienation.”
Omar sparked outrage with a post on
She later apologized but said she would continue to criticize AIPAC’s role in politics.
“Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who educate me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes,” Omar said in a statement Monday afternoon.
“It is never my intention to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole,” she added. “We must always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me because of my identity. Therefore, I unequivocally apologize.”
“At the same time, I reaffirm the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil fuel industry. It’s taking too long and we have to be willing to do something about it,” Omar said. She tweeted her statement with the words: ‘Listen and learn, but stand strong.’
Samuels continued, “She had sentiments that were interpreted by the Jewish community as anti-Semitic. And this didn’t bother her.’
He said voters had tried to explain to her why they were offended and their cries fell on deaf ears.
“Believe me, there were meetings with her, there were people who told her the nuances of their feelings, experiences and sentiments,” Samuels said. “It wasn’t just that she was left to fend for herself and yet she carried on.”
The Jamaican-born toymaker and father of four says he didn’t immigrate to the US to see it evolve into political factions unable to talk to each other. That’s why he’s determined to wipe out people like Omar.
Don and Sondra Sameuls
Later in 2019, Omar came under fire for comments at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Omar said at the time that the council “was created after September 11 because they recognized that some people were doing something and that we were all starting to lose access to our civil liberties.”
Samuels said of the comments, “the Jewish community and all of us felt that she did not have a representative response to the terrorist attack.”
After his career in research and development for major toy companies brought to north Minneapolis, Samuels met his wife Sondra and the couple decided to improve their community.
They brought in neighborhood children with tough home lives, organized vigils when deadly shootings occurred, and organized neighbors to serve as patrols as crime ravaged the community.
He says that while Omar has name recognition and the support of party insiders – having won the coveted Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) endorsement earlier this month – Samuels says voters are ‘tired’ of her antics become.
“They are tired of the rancor and division, of unrepresentative leadership that indulges in its own flights of fancy rather than representing the will of the people,” he said.