Since last year, Sen. Bernie Sanders has held deafening rallies with surrogate Rep. Ilhan Omar in tow, bringing her to St. Paul the night before the state primary in a bid to win Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s home state of Minnesota.
But months of campaigning with the bombastic Minneapolis representative not only couldn’t lock down the state, but it didn’t even help deliver Omar’s congressional district. Instead, Sanders lost by more than 60,000 votes in a state he won in 2016. What’s more, he didn’t lose to native Klobuchar (which could have been expected), but to Joe Biden, who didn’t contest the state but surged overnight after Klobuchar bowed out of the race and backed him.
Since getting elected to the Minnesota statehouse in 2016, Omar has been lionized by the media, and after winning her snap bid for Keith Ellison’s congressional seat in 2018, she’s been nothing short of revered. After suffering a heart attack in October of last year, Sanders relied on the endorsement of Omar and fellow socialist superstar Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, with much of the political press attributing his rebound in the polls to their support.
Despite months of campaigning, Omar couldn’t put him over the top in the state or in her home turf. Biden beat Sanders in Hennepin County, which houses Minneapolis and Omar’s district. He also won Ramsey County, which includes the other Twin City of St. Paul, where the Monday night rally with Omar was held.
Though this may come as a disappointment to Sanders supporters, in reality, Omar was never going to be a silver bullet.
The media began to laud Omar following her 2016 statehouse run. Then, just two months before the Democratic primary in 2018, Ellison decided to vacate his congressional seat to run for state attorney general. Omar jumped into the open primary and won thanks to a mere 24,000 Minnesotans. As a first-term state representative, her victory was no doubt impressive. But it was in no way indication that she’d become the hero of one of the last truly purple states in the nation. Omar won a D+26 district that delivered Hillary Clinton a 54-point margin over President Trump. Her appeal was hardly statewide.
Omar’s “Squad” may sell magazine covers and win the nation’s most polarized districts, but serve as bellwethers of success in crucial swing states, they will not.
