AFN recently reported that Omar, who crushed a similar primary challenge two years ago from a well-funded but lesser-known opponent, had expected to win easily. But her victory this week was anything but a landslide; she beat her more moderate Democratic challenger, Don Samuels, by a mere two points.
Jan Markell of Olive Tree Ministries lives within walking distance of Omar's district and says her radical positions are catching up with her.
"Minneapolis is deteriorating so rapidly because of crime and all the problems that are related to crime, and she is a 'defund the police' person," Markell notes.
Samuels' north Minneapolis base suffers from more violent crime than other parts of the city, and the moderate Democrat helped defeat a ballot question that sought to replace the city police department with a new public safety unit. He and others also successfully sued the city to force it to meet minimum police staffing levels called for in Minneapolis' charter.
Homicides have more than doubled in Minneapolis since 2019, and robberies are up 20%. Markell says Democrats, specifically the ultra-radical so-called "Squad," seem to be pretending none of that is happening. And while she believes most politicians would see such a narrow victory as a warning shot, she does not expect that of Omar.
"She's not going to moderate to the middle. That's just not in her DNA," Markell asserts. "Her DNA is to be an extreme leftist. They are driven by radicalism, and, of course, they don't see it as radicalism; they see it as normal."
The Olive Tree Ministries founder adds that Omar's Republican opponent has little chance of unseating her in the dark-blue 5th Congressional District in November. And even though Omar slipped through this time, Markell does not expect her political career to survive in 2024 if things in her district continue to deteriorate.
"I think the day could be coming where she could be defeated," Markell predicts. "That remains to be seen. Could it be as soon as this fall? I don't know. I think this primary was a wakeup call."
