Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar fended off Democratic rivals, winning the Democratic primary for Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District Tuesday.
On Wednesday, with 100% of precincts reporting, The Associated Press reported Omar had received 92,443 votes, or 57.4% of the vote, defeating challenger Antone Melton-Meaux, who received 63,059 votes, or 39.2%.
John Mason received 1.6% of the vote, while Daniel McCarthy received 1.1%, with Les Lester getting less than one percent.
Melton-Meaux, an attorney who runs an independent mediation firm in Minneapolis, had criticized Omar’s behavior as a congresswoman, including her dustups on Twitter with President Trump.
"We need people in Congress who want to get things done — not who get distracted fighting with Donald Trump on Twitter or even with their own party," Melton-Meaux said on his campaign website.
"I'll do the hard work that comes along with the demands of public office, while remaining Focused On The Fifth."
Omar and Melton-Meaux campaigns raised nearly the same amount of money during this cycle, with the incumbent’s campaign netting $4.2 million and spending $3.5 million, compared to $4.1 million raised by the challenger’s campaign, with $3.4 million spent.
Pro-Israel groups also spent money in the race to unseat Omar, who has been criticized for her controversial remarks on Israel supporters and the State of Israel.
Omar’s 18.2% margin of victory in the primary vote is nearly identical to her margin in the 2018 primary vote, when she received 48.2% of the vote, defeating Margaret Anderson Kelliher, who received 30.4%.
Having secured her party’s nomination, Omar is expected to easily win reelection in November, with Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District rated as a safe Democratic district, 26 points more Democratic than the country as a whole according to the Cook Partisan Voter Index.