Politics

Ilhan Omar Wins Democratic Primary In Keith Ellison’s Old District

US_Capitol_east_side | Circa September 2013 | Martin Falbisoner [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

Ilhan Omar won the Democratic primary for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District late Tuesday evening, beating her opponent, Margaret Anderson Kelliher, who outspent her.

Omar edged out a victory over Kelliher with almost 49 percent of the vote at the time the race was called with 91 percent of the precincts reporting.

Ilhan Omar was endorsed by the Minnesota Democratic Party, formally called the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. Kelliher out-raised Omar by more than $100,000, MinnPost reported.

Kelliher was a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1999 until 2011, when she lost a bid to become the Democratic candidate for governor in the 2010 election.

The district resides in Minneapolis, which has a relatively high Somali Muslim population, compared to the rest of the country. Both candidates campaigned on abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Born in Somalia as a Muslim, Omar was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2016. She worked as a community nutrition educator at the University of Minnesota from 2006 to 2009. Then she began to work in politics on various political campaigns in the state.

Omar had to return $2,500 in college speaking fees that she accepted in violation of Minnesota House of Representatives rules July 30, The Daily Caller News Foundation reported. She was also accused of using campaign money to pay for her divorce attorney, which she denied.

Omar is seeking to replace Keith Ellison, who is running for the Democratic primary for Minnesota’s attorney general.

Omar will face off and most likely defeat her Republican opponent in the general election on Nov. 6. The Minneapolis district has historically voted Democrat by significantly large margins.

If they win, Omar and Democrat Rashida Tlaib of Michigan’s 13th Congressional District, would become the first Muslim women elected to Congress.

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