The Political Insider

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) suffered a major setback this week when it was revealed that she had been greatly out-raised by a primary rival before next month’s election.

Omar is considered the favorite in the primary, which is set to take place on August 11, and she has secured endorsements from such high-profile Democrats as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). However, this has not stopped Omar from being walloped in terms of fundraising by her main primary challenger, Antone Melton-Meaux, according to Fox News.

Melton-Meaux, a lawyer, managed to raise an impressive $3.2 million in the April-June quarter of fundraising, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. In contrast, Omar was only able to raise nearly half-a-million dollars during the same period of time. Melton-Meaux also reported having $2 million in his campaign coffers as of the end of June, which was almost double Omar’s $1.1 million cash on hand.

Former Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) Party Chairman Mike Erlandson explained that “there’s no question that the elevation of the race in the 5th Congressional District to a national race has clearly helped Omar, and Ellison before her, with the national fundraising base. But now we are seeing that it is also having an impact on a challenger.”

“He’s a very strong candidate. He has a very compelling story, just as congresswoman [Omar] has a very compelling story. I think that has brought people into his camp, in addition to a number of people not being too excited about their current congresswoman,” Erlandson added.

Melton-Meaux said that he decided to run for office because of the many controversies that Omar has been embroiled in. He went so far as to argue that she has “lost the trust of the Jewish community by her insensitive and harmful tropes.”

Omar responded to Melton-Meaux’s fundraising success through her aides, who said that “our campaign is about organizing people. That’s what progressives do. And organized people will always beat organized money.” They added that the “overwhelming majority” of her constituents approve of Omar’s job performance.

We’ll see about that in the election next month.

This piece was written by PoliZette Staff on July 18, 2020. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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