Ilhan Omar’s GOP Opponent Counters Incumbent’s ‘Victim Card’

D alia al-Aqidi is one of the most interesting candidates running for U.S. Congress this election. If you haven’t heard of her, you’ve probably heard of her opponent — Representative Ilhan Omar from Minnesota’s 5th District.

Although Omar and Al-Aqidi share certain, core characteristics — they’re both Muslim women who came to the States as refugees from oppressive Islamist regimes — they couldn’t be more different.

Omar, a core member of “the Squad,” has railed against Jewish people and the state of Israel, cozied up to the president of Turkey, and described the American justice system as a “system of oppression” in need of “dismantling.”

Al-Aqidi, who first came to the U.S. as a refugee from Iraq, has dedicated her career as a journalist and security analyst to fighting radical Islamism — in all its different forms — and championing the virtues of our American constitutional democracy.

Al-Aqidi sat down with National Review to talk about her campaign against the strange bedmates of radical Islamism and left-wing policies in the West. In the wake of the pro-Hamas movement on campuses across the country — led by left-wing students — this phenomenon has never been so prevalent in the U.S.

“They share goals like resisting globalization, imperialism, capitalism,” al-Aqidi said. “These issues matter to the far left, because they see the West [as] the oppressive force, and who is leading that force is the U.S. and its allies . . . so that’s how we see all these pro-terrorist movements on our college campuses — which is very, very sad.”

Al-Aqidi was born in Iraq, but her family fled the country under Saddam Hussein. After Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, she moved to Saudi Arabia to help establish the radio station, Voice of the Iraqi Opposition. Al-Aqidi fell in love with America’s culture and freedoms when she first visited the U.S. on a tourist visa after the First Gulf War. “That you could say anything you wanted in America without fear of the secret police or that your success would be determined based on your individual skills was something completely new to me. I wanted to be here and become a part of the American fabric,” she recalled. Al-Aqidi has worked as a journalist for over 30 years, reporting from wartime Iraq and Lebanon, and working with the U.S. Department of Defense to establish free media in Iraq.

So how did she end up in Minnesota?

Working as a journalist for a Western-aligned Arabic news network in D.C., al-Aqidi encountered reports of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, meeting with a Somali woman from Minnesota in 2018. Al-Aqidi asked herself, “Why would the president of Turkey bring a woman from the Midwest to meet with him?” Soon, she would find her answer. A few months later, Omar was elected, with the help of Keith Ellison in Congress. Al-Aqidi observed, “From day one, all of Omar’s stances aligned with Turkey, including her denial of the genocide against Armenians in Turkey.”

In her capacity as a journalist, al-Aqidi sent interview requests to Omar’s office. No response. On Twitter, al-Aquidi discussed the alliance between the new congresswoman, CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations), the Muslim Brotherhood, and Turkey. Her account was soon shadow-banned. Not long after, her emails to Omar’s office started bouncing back. “That’s when I decided ‘to hell with that,’” al-Aqidi said. “I’m going to go to her district and see who these people are, and why they voted for such an Islamist.”

Her 2018 visit to Minnesota would prove a pivotal trip.

“After coming to Minneapolis,” al-Aqidi said, “I fell in love with it. I decided, ‘You know what, with my work right now, I’m not a field reporter anymore. I want to live there.’ I had lived a long time in D.C., and I was ready to move. What I love about Minneapolis, and the 5th District, which has several suburbs — is it’s so beautiful. The district is so rich — ethnically, religiously, racially.”

While al-Aqidi fell in love with the place, the lakes, the food, the people — she did not fall in love with her political representative, Ilhan Omar.

“She decided to represent only progressive ideology and the far left,”  al-Aqidi said. “She demonizes everybody, including people from her own political party, if they disagree with her . . . calling them ‘Nazis.’” (Omar said in a speech that her primary opponent, Don Samuels, “was willing to align with literal Nazis” in order to win. Samuels, however, was seeking campaign funding from a pro-Israel organization.)

“Omar is so good at playing the victim card,” al-Aqidi said. “If anybody talks or criticizes her about anything, she says, ‘Oh, they’re anti- me because I’m a woman, or because I’m an immigrant, or because I’m a Muslim.’ I dismantle all these weapons. That’s why I decided to run,” al-Aqidi told National Review, “even though I hate identity politics, because I’m exactly like her — I am a woman. I’m an Arab. I’m an immigrant.”

As an immigrant herself, the Republican said, “I can’t be anti-immigrant! I’m anti-illegal immigrant.“ Al-Aqidi, who came to the U.S. as a political refugee from Iraq, was vetted and approved for U.S. residency. She supports taking in immigrants from across the globe, as long as there is a secure vetting process in place. “Especially from a perspective of national security — and from the perspective of radical Islamism and terrorism in general — we need to know who is coming to our country. That’s the job of the government to protect its people. Certainly, this is why I decided to run.”

MN-5 is home to the largest Somali population in the U.S. It is centered in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, sometimes called “Little Somalia,” as over half of its residents are of East African origin. Located just west of the Mississippi River and the campus of the University of Minnesota, the Somali neighborhood is home to vibrant fairs, intercultural music centers, and some of the best East African food in Minneapolis.

However, the neighborhood has also been a hotbed for radical Islamist recruitment. Between 2007 and 2015, over 20 Somali immigrants in Minnesota — mostly young men — were charged on terrorist-related accounts in the in U.S. District Court in Minnesota.

Beginning in 2007, al-Shabaab — a Sunni Islamist terrorist organization based in Somalia — began recruiting Somali Minnesotans to fight overseas on their behalf. Over 22 Somali Minnesotans have since left to fight for al-Shabaab (a name which means “The Youth” in Arabic). Included in their ranks was Shirwa Ahmed, a Somali-born American citizen, who in 2008 became the first documented American suicide bomber. More recently, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) started to recruit Somali Minnesotans to travel to the Middle East to fight. Since 2013, a significant number of Somali Minnesotans have attempted to join ISIS abroad. The Minnesota Somali community at large has condemned this “cycle of recruitment” and has partnered with the U.S. attorney’s office to “build a plan” to stop the cycle.

It is also important to note that they are not the core of Omar’s support. Al-Aqidi has observed that the blue stronghold in the district — largely white liberals in Minneapolis — has kept Omar on her throne. While a Republican has not won MN-5 since 1960 — and GOP candidates in the district secured only 25 percent of the vote in 2020 and 2022 — al-Aqidi’s political presence is an important reminder of the diversity of American Muslim views. The key difference between al-Aqidi and Omar can be summed up in al-Aqidi’s words: “Omar hates everything about this country, and she’s not shy to say it. On the contrary, I love America, and I don’t want to change it.”