Minnesota has the only state legislature in the nation with split party control. It has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of just D+1, and it sends multiple Republicans and Democrats to the House of Representatives.
Minneapolis is a different story.
Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District has a Cook PVI of D+26, but don’t let that fool you. Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney by nearly 50 points in 2012. Hillary Clinton beat President Trump by more than 54, despite the state going just one point for Clinton overall.
To borrow a phrase from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a glass of water with a “D” on it would beat any Republican, including Abraham Lincoln resurrected from the dead. Well, maybe Lincoln might have had a shot during his time, shortly after which Republicans held the seat. The last one to occupy it left office in 1963, and Republicans haven’t received more than 26% of the vote in the district this century.
The current occupant, Rep. Ilhan Omar, has attracted national attention, first for throwing herself on the cover of every magazine cover she could find and then for repeatedly spewing anti-Semitic tropes, slurs, and policies, as well as glib dismissals of al Qaeda, Hamas, and the Sept. 11 attacks.
Oh, and she definitely committed tax fraud, probably entered a sham marriage, and may have married her brother.
It makes sense that people across the country, regardless of political affiliation, have grown interested in unseating our most deplorable congresswoman. What makes no sense is why people believe that a Republican could beat a Democrat in a district as deep blue as Greenwich Village.
The first serious (if you can call her that) contender to challenge Omar is Republican Daniella Stella. A QAnon conspiracy theorist, Stella has been arrested twice in 2019 alone, including for allegedly stealing 279 items worth $2,327.97 from a Minnesota Target.
Believe me, it’s not lost on me that this oppo on Stella was published by the national media in a matter of days while dozens of documents indicating that Omar was in a sham marriage from 2009 to 2011 and then lied about it were just hanging around in a Hennepin County courthouse for years while journalists conveniently ignored screenshots obtained by local journalists indicating Omar may have committed fraud or worse. But that doesn’t change the fact that Stella isn’t just unelectable in a district a mile to the left of Amy Klobuchar. Stella couldn’t win Alabama.
MyPillow founder Mike Lindell also teased a run. Although the Republican entrepeneur would have been a far more serious longshot contender, he still would’ve been a longshot and accepted as much on Fox & Friends Friday morning. Because the fact remains that just as is true with Omar’s rhetoric, her office can only be cleaned out by a fellow Democrat.
Nancy Pelosi ought to get her ducks in order, and fast, and call upon the consciences of her party to find a viable liberal who can represent the interests of the district’s voters as well as their values. The Minnesotans of the county seat may be leftists, but I’m hard pressed to believe they’re fully on board with Omar. Surely there’s some young talent out there ready to do the district proud.
Or maybe not. Maybe Omar remains in the seat unchallenged, and maybe Trump continues to use Omar as a foil for the entire Democratic Party, calling on voters yet again not to vote for him, but rather to vote against someone who ought to epitomize the American dream yet can’t seem to stop hating America and everything it stands for. If Democrats refuse to denounce Omar, maybe Trump’s strawman will prove itself a reality, and 2020 won’t be quite so hard for him as we think it will.
