When nearly all the votes were counted Tuesday night in Minnesota’s 5th District, Rep. Ilhan Omar — one of two Muslim women in the House and a member of the far-left “Squad”— won the Democratic primary with 56 percent of the vote.
In defeating the better-funded and more “establishmentarian” attorney Antone Melton-Meaux's, Omar had major assistance from a big turnout for fellow leftists seeking other offices on the ballot.
In a much-watched race for the vacant seat on the Minneapolis City Council from Ward 6, Jamal Osman, an advocate with a housing nonprofit called CommonBond Communities, led with 28.5 percent of the first-choice votes.
‘The support for extreme left candidates following the George Floyd death and resulting riots no doubt produced a turnout that helped Omar win,” veteran election analyst Jay O’Callaghan told Newsmax.
In primaries for two legislative seats within the boundaries of the 5th District, Democrats running as Omar-style “progressives” took out incumbents in the primary. Esther Agbaje, a Harvard lawyer and the daughter of Nigerian immigrants, edged out veteran State Rep. Raymond Dehn. Agbaje, 35, specializes in representing renters facing eviction.
AJ Awed, an attorney running as a Democratic Socialist, trailed behind with 21.9 percent of the first-choice votes.
In similar results, self-styled “Democratic socialist” Omar Fatah handily defeated veteran State Sen. Jeff Hayden for renomination in his South Minneapolis district. Like Omar, Fatah, 30, is the son of Somali immigrants.
Most observers agree that the higher-than-usual turnout for the primary in Minneapolis was generated by the nationally-watched death of George Floyd and resulting riots.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.