United States | Cops, robbers and votes

Crime and policing continue to split Democrats in Minnesota

Ilhan Omar, a progressive darling, almost comes unstuck

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar waves to passersby for support during a voter engagement event on the corner of Broadway and Central Avenues in Minneapolis, on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022. Omar faces a primary challenge from former city council member Don Samuels. (Elizabeth Flores/Star Tribune via AP)
|MINNEAPOLIS

Since entering Congress in 2019, Ilhan Omar has become one of the best known and most divisive figures on the American left. Ms Omar represents Minnesota’s fifth district, which covers the city of Minneapolis and some of its suburbs. She came to America from Somalia as a refugee, and is one of only three Muslims in the House of Representatives. During her few years in Congress, she has picked fights with Donald Trump, who has questioned her citizenship; the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a lobbying group that accused her of anti-Semitism; and fellow Democrats including Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, who condemned her for equating American misdeeds abroad with those of the Taliban. All of this Ms Omar has survived and, to some extent, thrived on.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Cops, robbers and votes”

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