Former Gopher Royce White Announces Bid Against Rep. Ilhan Omar

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Another name has jumped into the ring in an attempt to oust incumbent Rep. Ilhan Omar.

Royce White, a former Gophers basketball player and current MMA athlete, launched his bid for a U.S. Congress seat Tuesday.

"I'm a fifth-generation Minnesotan, and a product of the Twin Cities. But, first and foremost, I'm an American," White says in a video he posted to Twitter Tuesday morning. "I'm running for Congress because our leaders have sold us out."

White goes on in the video to call Omar a "globalist," and a "puppet for the establishment." The video also includes swipes at "Big Pharma, Big Tech and the corporate elites."

White's video did not make it clear if he's running under a particular political party or as an independent, though the first face shown in his video is that of Steve Bannon, co-founder of Breitbart News and outspoken ally of former president Donald Trump. White has spoken out in Bannon's favor in various posts made on his Substack, as well as Kyle Rittenhouse.

White was also among the many who took to the streets in protest after the murder of George Floyd, and again after the shooting death of Daunte Wright.

Omar has twice won the state's 5th congressional district, a district that tilts heavily toward the Democratic Party. In 2018, she won with 78% of the vote, and in 2020 she won with 64.3% of the vote.

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