Rep. Ilhan Omar looks to defeat Dalia al-Aqidi in Minnesota's 5th District race
MINNEAPOLIS — Voters in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District are heading to the polls Tuesday as Incumbent Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar looks fend of Republican challenger Dalia al-Aqidi.
Omar has represented the 5th Congressional District — which encompasses Minneapolis and its inner-ring suburbs — since 2019. Her constituents make up one of the most deeply Democratic districts in the country; the winner of the primary election has historically defeated the Republican nominee.
The candidates
Omar made history in 2019 when she became the first Somali-American to be elected to Congress, and was also one of the first two Muslim women to be sworn in. She is a member of the "Squad," a progressive block that includes heavyweights such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Rashida Tlaib.
Born in Somalia, Omar fled the country with her family when she was 8 years old, spending four years in a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the United States in the 1990s. Before her time in office, Omar worked as a policy fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and served as senior policy aide for the Minneapolis City Council.
Omar's opponent Al-Aqidi was born in Iraq, but fled the country in 1988 and settled with her family in the UAE. According to her campaign website, she worked in a journalist across the Middle East, including in the UAE, Jeddah and Baghdad.
Al-Aqidi moved to Minneapolis in 2019 and, in 2020, briefly ran as a Republican candidate for the 5th District before withdrawing.
The race so far
In the last two election cycles, Omar has faced Don Samuels in the primary. Samuels, a former Minneapolis City Councilmember, challenged her on her stance on crime after she backed an overhaul of the Minneapolis Police Department in the wake of George Floyd's murder.
Samuels lost by just 2,500 votes in 2022 but Omar widened the margin of defeat in 2024, defeating him 56.2% to 42.9%. This year she focused on the matchup in a way she didn't two years ago; spending money on television ads and contacting thousands of voters in the days leading up to the primary.
Key issues
Omar's opponents have long criticized her for backing an overhaul of the MPD, but she has since moderated her stand. She broke with progressives to negotiate a compromise funding bill for police departments across the country. Al-Aqidi says she will, if elected, push for more state and local law enforcement funding, as well as advocate for scholarships and loan forgiveness to attract new recruits to the job.
Omar has also been challenged for her positions on Israel. She decried the Hamas attack in October of 2023 and has called for a ceasefire, saying that "we should condemn when atrocities happen."
She was ousted by Republicans from the Foreign Affairs Committee in 2023 for remarks she made in 2019 and 2021 that were denounced as antisemitic, implying lawmakers who supported Israel were motivated by money. The Republican-led House ousted her in what was viewed as a response to Democrats, who had earlier booted far-right GOP lawmakers Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar over comments and alleged support of violence against Democratic colleagues.
Al-Aqidi has promised to combat "the rising scourge of antisemitism" that she claims "Ilhan Omar so often promotes."
