Don Samuels vs. Ilhan Omar, 2.0

It's finally official. Republicans finally get what they've been wishing for. Appearing on Esme Murphy's Sunday show, former Minneapolis City Councilman Don Samuels confirmed that he's primarying Ilhan Omar in the DFL primary for Minnesota's Fifth District. Though he's planning on changing his messaging slightly, he'll still be attacking Omar from her right flank.

This time, Samuels "said he still plans to run on a public safety platform, but he also speaks of a 'crisis in leadership,' brought on by extremists on the far right and far left of American politics and of an 'exhausted majority' of American voters."

Then there's this fight to kick off this primary:

He said he has "a history of bringing people together" and will try to convince 5th District voters that Omar does not. Samuels said the Democratic lawmaker even splits with the majority of her own party on legislation that would benefit her constituents, including President Biden’s massive infrastructure bill, to make a point.

Omar said she voted against the infrastructure bill because it failed to include Biden’s original requests for "childcare, paid leave, health care, climate action, housing, education, and a roadmap to citizenship. I cannot in good conscience support the infrastructure bill without voting on the President’s transformative agenda first," Omar said in a statement when the infrastructure bill was approved two years ago.

In other words, voting for legislation that helps her constituents isn't enough. Here's the thing worth noting: People that love the U.S. aren't interested in transforming the U.S. The first step in bringing people together is sharing their love of nation. If you're luke-warm about the U.S. and hate Israel, then you don't have the U.S.'s best interests at heart.

The U.S. and Israel are similar because they're built on the same (Judeo-Christian) principles. In his announcement interview, Samuels got a taste of what he'll face the rest of the race:

Samuels isn't just running against Ilhan Omar. He's running against the more liberal members of the Twin Cities media. I've met Esme Murphy. She's a nice lady but she's definitely biased. Notice how Samuels had to correct her 2-3 times. Once, he said that Rep. Omar has spent more time in her district than before her primary but that she hasn't spent far more time than before. Later, with regards to townhall meetings, he noted that constituents had to get tickets to get into the townhall meetings. Then he highlighted that he'd take all questions and that there wouldn't be any pre-screening of questions. I'd call that a significant difference. With Omar, she's doing townhalls to check off the box. Samuels hosts townhalls to listen to his constituents. I'd say that's significant.