Ilhan Omar hasn’t faced a primary election like this before. Her opponent, Don Samuels got an alarming 48.2% of the votes. Ilhan won by just 2.2%, getting 50.4% and winning the Democratic nomination.
In 2018, Ilhan won the primaries by nearly 18%, and in 2020, by nearly 20%. And this very tight race has given Samuels the confidence in thinking he could’ve won if he weren’t facing an incumbent.
“The fact that we could 2.5 percent behind an incumbent in the United States Congress says that if the playing field were even…if this were not an incumbent challenger situation, we could win this race,” Samuels said.
Well, Ilhan quickly debunked that. “Six years ago, when I ran and defeated a 44-year incumbent, nobody thought it was possible that a Muslim, immigrant, refugee, Black, hijabi women could get elected,” Ilhan said after Samuels’ concession speech. In 2016, Ilhan defeated Phyllis Kahn in the primaries, becoming the first Somali-American to serve in the Minnesota House of Representatives. She then moved on to the U.S. House of Representatives within two years.
“I’m honored to be on the path to serve the people of the 5th Congressional District for a 3rd term in the House of Representatives,” Ilhan continued.
Now that Ilhan has made her mark once again on the Democratic ticket, she now faces her opponent in Cicely Davis who won 48% of the votes and defeating former NBA basketball player Royce White.
“It’s official,” Davis tweeted, after her victory. “I’m the Republican endorsed candidate of MN-5.”
Davis, who is originally from New York, has served as the State Director of Blexit, a non-profit organization that serves to empower minorities. Davis has emphasized her support for the police, cutting taxes, and education.
She’s also immersed herself in the Somali community, as well, and took part in raising funds for Somaliland after a fire broke out at the Waheen market in Hargeisa last spring. She sat alongside Imam Tawakal Ismail and Fadumo Yusuf in the fundraiser effort.
But while Davis has been selected as the Republican nominee and garning attention in the community, she has less than three months to make a case for herself against the sitting incumbent.
“Millions of dollars have been spent to unseat us,” Ilhan said. “Republican and conservative Democrats have worked in lockstep to vote us out.”
But Ilhan is still here. And she appears more determined than ever to maintain her seat. While the race in the primaries has gotten close, Ilhan has been winning in the past two general elections by a much wider margin.
Ilhan is the clear favorite to win the 5th Congressional District election on Nov 8. And if Davis happens to pull off an upset to defeat Ilhan, it will be something Minnesota’s 5th district hasn’t seen in 59 years since the late Walter Judd – a Republican in the House.