Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) fended off a Democratic primary challenge in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District on Tuesday.
Omar, who has represented the district that covers most of metropolitan Minneapolis for three terms, defeated former Minnesota City Council Member Don Samuels.
Omar and Samuels previously faced each other in the 2022 Democratic Primary, which was narrowly decided. Omar won that primary with just 2.15 percent of the vote.
The victory makes Omar the likely winner of the general election on Nov. 5 as Minnesota’s 5th District is among the most Democratic-leaning districts in the country. The Republican primary in the district was uncontested, with former journalist Dalia Al-Aqidi being the unopposed GOP candidate running in November.
FISCHBACH PREVAILS AGAINST POPULIST
In Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District, Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.) was projected as the winner of the Republican primary election on Tuesday night, fending off a challenge from a populist candidate.
Fischbach, a two-term member of Congress who flipped a Democratic-held seat in 2020, defeated Steve Boyd, a business owner and homeschool parent.
Fischbach was endorsed by former President Donald Trump and a host of prominent congressional leaders, such as House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.). However, she was not endorsed by the Minnesota Republican Party, with delegates from her district declining to officially endorse a candidate for the nomination.
Fischbach unseated 30-year incumbent Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) in 2020. She has emphasized her pro-life record, support for the Second Amendment and border security, and renegotiating trade deals to benefit farmers.
—Arjun Singh
HOVDE AND WIED WIN
Winners have emerged from primaries across “America’s Dairyland,” Wisconsin.
One is Eric Hovde, the Republican businessman now slated to take on Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) in November.
“Thank you, Wisconsin! I look forward to earning everyone’s support this November. We’ve got a country to go save,” Hovde wrote on X soon after the polls closed on Aug. 13. While victory had not been declared by the Associated Press, neither of his challengers were considered likely to win.
The AP projected Hovde as the winner at 8:20 p.m. local time, twenty minutes after the polls closed. With 27 percent of the total counted, he had 88.7 percent. His rivals Rejani Raveendran and Charles Barman had earned 5.1 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively.
Baldwin was unopposed in her primary. She has represented Wisconsin in the Senate since 2013. Her counterpart, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), was last reelected in 2022.
COOKE TO FACE REP. VAN ORDEN
Rebecca Cooke came out ahead in the Democrats’ closely fought primary in Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District.
The Associated Press declared her the victor at 10:45 p.m. local time.
With 90 percent of the total tallied, she had 49.2 percent of the vote, a 7-point lead over her chief rival, state Rep. Katrina Shankland.
“I think we’ve been under-estimated time and time again,” she said in her victory speech at The Good Wives, a restaurant where she works as a waitress.
The Aug. 13 victory sets Cooke up to face incumbent Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), who defeated Democrat state Sen. Brad Pfaff by 3.7 percent in 2022.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is targeting the district in the hopes of flipping it. Republicans only narrowly control the U.S. House, and Democrats will likewise be defending their close Senate majority while facing an unfavorable map in that chamber.
—Nathan Worcester
BOOKMARKS
A U.S. appeals court has ruled that most “geofence” location warrants issued to Google to obtain user data are a violation of the Fourth Amendment against unlawful search and seizure. Geofence data can be used to pinpoint which users’ phones were within a certain perimeter and timeframe.
Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is being investigated for her involvement in the murder of grocer Abu Saeed, who was shot by police during a student protest. Hasina fled to India after a period of unrest during which she instituted harsh police and military control over the population, and some in Bangladesh blame her for the killing of protesters during that time.
Irishman Patrick Grealish has been arrested for allegedly making online threats against that nation’s leader, Simon Harris. Harris has said he intends to institute online behavior codes and hold directors of social media companies responsible for their users’ violations, including large fines to “hit these companies where it hurts.”
A Turkish woman was arrested after criticizing a now-lifted government ban on the social media platform Instagram during a street interview. The arrest prompted criticism from Turkey’s opposition party leader Ugur Poyraz who said: “It is alarming that an everyday citizen, who is not a professional commentator, is detained for expressing her opinion.”
—Stacy Robinson
