The 2026 midterm election battlelines are getting drawn.
Washington is facing a political earthquake.
And Ilhan Omar made this hard decision about quitting Congress.
Minnesota Democrat Senator Tina Smith stunned Washington by announcing she wouldn’t be seeking another term in 2026.
But what left Democrat Party operatives even more flabbergasted was who ended up being one of the first to express interest in seeking Smith’s seat – Ilhan Omar, the socialist and anti-Semitic Congresswoman who’s also one of the founding members of “The Squad.”
“Congresswoman Omar will be talking with Minnesotans about the future of Tina’s senate seat and DFL party in Minnesota,” Omar spokesperson Connor McNutt said in a statement to Axios back in February.
Republicans salivated over the idea of Omar as the Democrat nominee.
Omar supports open borders and is one of the loudest voices in the ascendent, pro-Hamas caucus inside the Democrat Party.
And in June 2020, as Black Lives Matter terrorist militias burned Minneapolis to the ground and killed innocents, Omar championed defunding the police.
Omar defended Minneapolis’ City Council dismantling its police force in the wake of the George Floyd riots, telling CNN’s Jake Tapper “if you had a company that wasn’t producing, you wouldn’t just pour more money into it so that it would produce” and that “you would step back and say, let’s look at what works, what doesn’t work, and how do we move forward.”
But in politics, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Omar recently announced she wouldn’t be running for the Senate and would instead seek a fifth term in the House of Representatives.
“At a time when our rights are under attack, it is more important than ever to fight back against the chaos, corruption, and callousness of the Trump Administration,” Omar declared.
“In Minnesota, we know that organized people will always beat organized money. Our campaign is ready to build on our successful grassroots organizing efforts to have a record turnout for the midterms and help win back the majority,” Omar continued.
Omar bowing out of the race made Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan the favorite on the Democrat side.
Former Senator Al Franken – whom Smith replaced after Franken resigned in the wake of “Me Too” allegations – endorsed Smith.
I want to tell you about the person who I want to be Minnesota’s next U.S. Senator: my friend, @peggyflanagan.
Peggy is a leader who understands what’s at stake in this moment. She’s someone who listens, fights, and embodies the values that make Minnesota, well, Minnesotan.
We… pic.twitter.com/NIZeQT6of6
— Al Franken (@alfranken) April 10, 2025
There is currently no favored candidate in the Republican Party that conservatives can rally around.
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