Minneapolis’s Democratic mayor didn’t hold back after Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) narrowly survived a primary challenge on Tuesday, attributing the congresswoman’s near-defeat to what he said was her inability to “work with other people” and her lack of “urgency to do the work.”
Mayor Jacob Frey, who endorsed Omar’s intraparty rival shortly before the Aug. 9 primary, castigated the two-term congresswoman and “Squad” member for being “mean-spirited” and “making it about” herself in a wide-ranging interview conducted shortly after Omar was declared the race’s victor late Tuesday night.
REP. ILHAN OMAR SURVIVES CHALLENGE FROM PRO-POLICE DEMOCRAT IN MINNESOTA
Omar edged out Don Samuels, a former Minneapolis City Council member, in the race for the Democratic nomination in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, securing just 50% of the vote to Samuels’s 48%. The contest focused largely on crime and policing, with Samuels attacking Omar’s support for “defund the police” efforts while characterizing her left-wing bona fides as “divisive” and unproductive.
Frey, who as Minneapolis’s mayor led the city through historic protests and demands for policing reforms in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, strongly supported Samuels’s campaign. In an interview with a local television station just minutes after the race was called, Frey said that Omar’s narrow 2-point win proved that holding elected office is “not just about sending out vitriolic tweets and being mean-spirited,” arguing instead that “it’s about working with people.”
“A true leader … [has] an urgency to do the work,” the mayor said. “So far, that’s not what I’ve seen.”
He added that the congresswoman should “shift at least to be able to work with other people around top issues, as opposed to just making it about [herself].”
Omar easily held off a centrist primary challenge in 2020, defeating attorney Antone Melton-Meaux by a nearly 20-point margin. While that race essentially devolved into a proxy war over Israel, with Melton-Meaux receiving significant financial aid from pro-Israel lobbying groups and knocking Omar for her support for anti-Israel movements, Samuels ran a campaign centered on support for police and concern over rising crime rates in Minneapolis.
Omar, who previously said Minneapolis should “completely dismantle” its police department, told Fox 9 shortly after her primary win that Frey must do more to provide “adequate public safety” for city residents and address their worries about rising crime. But Frey dismissed her position as hypocritical, citing her outspoken advocacy for defunding the police and abolishing the city’s police force.
“Congresswoman Omar is telling us that we need to be providing adequate safety? This is the person that literally called out to defund and get rid of the police,” Frey said.
“This is the person that said that defunding the police was a policy decision and then doubled down on it again and again and again,” he continued. “I heard it firsthand, repeatedly. And so, that same person is talking to us about improving public safety?”
Asked if she “worked with” him on local problems, Frey claimed that he didn’t have a working relationship with Omar, whose district includes the entire city of Minneapolis.
“Sadly, the answer, for the most part, is no. We’ve even gone to visit her in D.C., and she’s stood up meetings,” he said. “It’s unfortunate.”
Omar responded to Frey’s comments in a tweet after this piece was first published, deriding him as “incompetent” and arguing that as the city’s leader, public safety is ultimately his responsibility.
? our incompetent Mayor gets upset when we talk about his failures, but as the Mayor he is solely in charge of our city, it’s police & public safety.
No matter how much media covers for him, people know our city is suffering because of his poor leadership and childish behavior. https://t.co/VBoRmMAb93
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) August 10, 2022
“As the Mayor he is solely in charge of our city, it’s police & public safety,” she wrote. “No matter how much media covers for him, people know our city is suffering because of his poor leadership and childish behavior.”
In his interview, Frey noted that Omar has time to “change” and encouraged her to use her narrow win as an opportunity to “improve” herself.
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“People can change. People can improve. I’ve learned lessons throughout my tenure in public service. You use those lessons to be a better mayor and hopefully a better person,” Frey said. “I hope that Congresswoman Omar will see this massive 20-point shift and perhaps do the same.”
While Omar is expected to win another term easily in November’s general election representing the overwhelmingly Democratic 5th district, her poor showing in Tuesday’s primary could prompt establishment-minded Democrats to coalesce behind another effort to unseat her in 2024. Frey himself is seen as a formidable Omar rival in two years, should he decide to challenge her for the seat.
