Why fellow Democrats have become reluctant to challenge Ilhan Omar in 2026

Sydney Kashiwagi, Star Tribune on Jul 28, 2025

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Four years after narrowly surviving a primary challenge, Democratic-Farmer-Labor Rep. Ilhan Omar looks increasingly unlikely to face major opposition on her way to winning a fifth term representing her deep blue district.

Both Omar’s supporters and detractors say it will be difficult to beat her next year in the Fifth District, even if national campaign groups try to influence the race. Her national fundraising, strong name ID and strength as a candidate when she’s opposing President Donald Trump will make her more difficult to topple.

She’s also receiving an early boost from Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, who are backing her together for the first time, another sign of the congresswoman’s institutional support within the state.

“I don’t know if it’s in anyone’s benefit to run against her this year,” said Democratic operative Julius Hernandez, who worked as a field organizer for Omar’s two-time Democratic opponent, former Minneapolis City Council member Samuels. “I think she has a really strong case to be made, just on an ideological scale of how she can be an opposition to (Trump).”

Top-tier candidates are bowing out of the race. Samuels, who lost to Omar the last two cycles but came closer than anyone to defeating her, said he won’t run again in 2026. Former House DFL Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, who was seen as another formidable contender, also told the Minnesota Star Tribune he has no plans to run.

“Whoever thinks that Ilhan should not be elected, whether they be passive voters or big movers and shakers, they really lost a couple opportunities,” Samuels said in an interview.

Even one of Omar’s biggest detractors in Washington, the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), has struggled to recruit a challenger. The lobbying group has invested significant funds against members of the progressive Squad, resulting in the primary defeats of two incumbent Democrats. Omar, one of the leading pro-Palestinian voices in Congress, has been a vocal opponent of AIPAC and its influence on U.S. foreign policy decisions concerning Israel.

Two Democrats say they’ve had discussions with AIPAC about finding someone to run against Omar. So far only one Democrat, DNC member and party activist Latonya Reeves, has openly said she’s exploring a run.

Still, Omar’s endorsement of Democratic Socialist Minneapolis City Council member Robin Wonsley has caused some friction within her deep blue district. Reeves recently blasted Omar for refusing to meet with the local party chair to talk about her endorsement of a “non DFL candidate.”

Reeves declined to speak with the Star Tribune for an interview and Fifth District DFL Chair Scott Graham could not be reached for comment.

“Though (Omar) doesn’t formally acknowledge ties to the DSA, she is widely seen as their patron saint in the state, and many party members are fed up with what they view as the DSA’s disruptive antics,” said Ben Weisbuch, the chair of the DFL Jewish Community Outreach Organization.

Omar said she is not endorsing yet in the Minneapolis mayoral race, where DSA member and state Sen. Omar Fateh recently won the local DFL Party’s backing over incumbent two-term Mayor Jacob Frey.

Samuels came within nearly 2 percentage points of winning the Fifth District primary in 2022, surprising Democrats and Omar herself, who vowed to take her challenger seriously in the next cycle. She did, beating him by more than 13 percentage points last fall.

“We feel pretty comfortable in not having too many obstacles to victory. We know that there will always be special interest groups that historically invested in trying to unseat us,” Omar said in an interview. “But hopefully, the voters have been clear that the Fifth (District) is not for sale.”

While pro-Isreal outside spending groups have had success spending in primaries against other progressive members, Samuels’ supporters say they’ve failed to show up in the Fifth District with financial support for Omar’s opponents.

“Ilhan is AIPAC’s biggest fundraiser and they always claim they want to get involved in the race, and then they try to get someone in the race and then they don’t back it up with the financial support that they initially kind of woo people in with,” said Hernandez.

A poll was conducted this year asking questions about Omar and Winkler, which Democrats believe was linked to AIPAC. Winkler said he had nothing to do with the poll. AIPAC, its super PAC the United Democracy Project, and the Democratic Majority for Israel PAC did not respond to requests for comment about the poll or whether they will play in the race.

“I think every cycle is a worse cycle for AIPAC to try and challenge Ilhan Omar,” said Usamah Andrabi, a spokesperson for Justice Democrats, a PAC that supports members of the Squad.

Of the more than 700,000 people living in Omar’s district, Samuels’ former campaign manager Joe Radinovich says “in t there could be someone who steps up.

“But the challenge is, who is the right person,” Radinovich said. “You have to have somebody who’s committed enough to do it.”

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