Our district is ethnically, religiously, and racially diverse. We should be represented by someone who reaches out to include and listen to everyone. We do not do well with representatives who pit groups against each other, where each group tries to present itself as most worthy of victim status.
We need leaders who see residents as individuals, with their own dreams for themselves and their children. We need leaders committed to serving all residents, not just the few who share their political tribe. We need leaders who are more interested in constituents than themselves, who will fight for all communities and hard-working families, rather than slices of the population and foreign influences. We need someone to better reflect our values in Washington.
I’m running because we deserve better.
Ilhan Omar is doing irreparable harm to both Minnesota and the United States.
Name the issue and Ilhan Omar is on the wrong side of it. A few examples tell the story:
Public Safety
In the aftermath of George Floyd’s 2020 death, Ilhan Omar led loud marches demanding an immediate dissolution of Minneapolis police. She fiercely campaigned for Minneapolis City Council candidates who supported the 2021 ballot initiative to remove all legal obstacles to abolishing police. On national TV, she declared, “Minneapolis police are rotten to the root,” and insisted to former President Obama that “DEFUND POLICE” was not a slogan but a policy demand.
Meanwhile, Omar has spent over $100K on her own personal security. Her political acolytes—the ones she has groomed and promoted up through the ranks—now hold offices on the Minneapolis City Council, State House, and State Legislature. From those offices they also publicly denigrate police and block efforts to reestablish a police station in southeast Minneapolis. Is it any wonder that the city of Minneapolis has difficulty recruiting and keeping police? Ilhan Omar has led the way to creating an inhospitable climate for them.
Name the issue and Ilhan Omar is on the wrong side of it. A few examples tell the story:
Public Safety
In the aftermath of George Floyd’s 2020 death, Ilhan Omar led loud marches demanding an immediate dissolution of Minneapolis police. She fiercely campaigned for Minneapolis City Council candidates who supported the 2021 ballot initiative to remove all legal obstacles to abolishing police. On national TV, she declared, “Minneapolis police are rotten to the root,” and insisted to former President Obama that “DEFUND POLICE” was not a slogan but a policy demand.
Meanwhile, Omar has spent over $100K on her own personal security. Her political acolytes—the ones she has groomed and promoted up through the ranks—now hold offices on the Minneapolis City Council, State House, and State Legislature. From those offices they also publicly denigrate police and block efforts to reestablish a police station in southeast Minneapolis. Is it any wonder that the city of Minneapolis has difficulty recruiting and keeping police? Ilhan Omar has led the way to creating an inhospitable climate for them.
Human Rights
Ilhan Omar proclaims herself to be a great champion of human rights but she is selective. She cites "human rights" as the issue to punish our allies and protect our adversaries. One one hand, she refused to condemn Turkey’s genocide of Armenians, saying that we should not use the word "genocide" for political purposes. On the other hand, she never fails to misapply the word "genocide" when she wishes to demonize our ally Israel. She refused to vote to sanction the regime in Iran for their human rights abuses but always votes to impose sanctions on Israel. She voted against a bill that would have seized the assets of Russian oligarchs to rebuild Ukraine. All these bills passed with large bipartisan majorities. Ilhan Omar was one of a handful of extremists among both Democrats and Republicans to vote against them.
Women’s Rights
Ilhan Omar voted against the MAHSA Act, named for the Iranian woman who was arrested, beaten, and killed in the custody of the Iranian regime for the crime of improperly covering her hair. Ilhan urged the U.S. to withdraw from Afghanistan, declaring that we always would retain our commitment to women’s freedoms there, yet she said nothing as the Taliban imposed increasing restrictions on women, the most recent examples include a law that requires them to cover every inch of skin when in public, and another that bans the sound of women’s voices singing or reading in public.
Antisemitism
Ilhan Omar has been chastised repeatedly by leaders of both parties for her antisemitic remarks. Initially she would apologize, then repeat the behavior again. Lately, she does not even bother to apologize. While Israel defends itself against Islamist terrorists determined to kill all Jews, she repeats the blood libel that Jews are committing "genocide," even as Israelis take extraordinary precautions to protect the lives of innocents.
Not long ago, she was sanctioned in Congress for referring to Jewish students as “pro-genocide.” During her primary campaign she repeatedly declared that the pro-American-Israeli relations organization, AIPAC, was going to spend tens of millions of dollars against her, despite the public and well-established fact that AIPAC was uninterested in her primary. But Ilhan kept amplifying the lie about AIPAC in order to spread the old antisemitic trope that “Jews and their money control the world.” Her followers repeat her rhetoric right here at home, endangering the lives of our Jewish neighbors and friends.
Ilhan Omar’s record of votes and rhetoric reveals a troubling pattern: She is against both protecting the innocent and giving the innocent the means to protect themselves. Her hateful rhetoric and noxious antisemitism serves only to gain attention for herself and position her as a celebrity—she is not fighting for us, she is fighting for herself.
Ilhan Omar proclaims herself to be a great champion of human rights but she is selective. She cites "human rights" as the issue to punish our allies and protect our adversaries. One one hand, she refused to condemn Turkey’s genocide of Armenians, saying that we should not use the word "genocide" for political purposes. On the other hand, she never fails to misapply the word "genocide" when she wishes to demonize our ally Israel. She refused to vote to sanction the regime in Iran for their human rights abuses but always votes to impose sanctions on Israel. She voted against a bill that would have seized the assets of Russian oligarchs to rebuild Ukraine. All these bills passed with large bipartisan majorities. Ilhan Omar was one of a handful of extremists among both Democrats and Republicans to vote against them.
Women’s Rights
Ilhan Omar voted against the MAHSA Act, named for the Iranian woman who was arrested, beaten, and killed in the custody of the Iranian regime for the crime of improperly covering her hair. Ilhan urged the U.S. to withdraw from Afghanistan, declaring that we always would retain our commitment to women’s freedoms there, yet she said nothing as the Taliban imposed increasing restrictions on women, the most recent examples include a law that requires them to cover every inch of skin when in public, and another that bans the sound of women’s voices singing or reading in public.
Antisemitism
Ilhan Omar has been chastised repeatedly by leaders of both parties for her antisemitic remarks. Initially she would apologize, then repeat the behavior again. Lately, she does not even bother to apologize. While Israel defends itself against Islamist terrorists determined to kill all Jews, she repeats the blood libel that Jews are committing "genocide," even as Israelis take extraordinary precautions to protect the lives of innocents.
Not long ago, she was sanctioned in Congress for referring to Jewish students as “pro-genocide.” During her primary campaign she repeatedly declared that the pro-American-Israeli relations organization, AIPAC, was going to spend tens of millions of dollars against her, despite the public and well-established fact that AIPAC was uninterested in her primary. But Ilhan kept amplifying the lie about AIPAC in order to spread the old antisemitic trope that “Jews and their money control the world.” Her followers repeat her rhetoric right here at home, endangering the lives of our Jewish neighbors and friends.
Ilhan Omar’s record of votes and rhetoric reveals a troubling pattern: She is against both protecting the innocent and giving the innocent the means to protect themselves. Her hateful rhetoric and noxious antisemitism serves only to gain attention for herself and position her as a celebrity—she is not fighting for us, she is fighting for herself.
