CLAIM: Ilhan Omar Could Face Primary Challenge in Transgender Minneapolis City Council Member

Rumor has it that Minneapolis City Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins is being lobbied to run against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) in the 2020 primary for Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District.

“Breaking: I have heard a rumor that Andrea Jenkins of the Minneapolis City Council is being lobbied to run against Rep. Ilhan Omar in a primary next election. Game changer if true,” Minnesota attorney Nathan Hansen wrote on Twitter Wednesday.

https://twitter.com/nathanmhansen/status/1095478515670175747

Jenkins is best known for being the first transgender African-American woman elected to public office in the United States. In January, she drew attention after calling a press conference to discuss her experience of being chastised at a Minneapolis coffee shop for handing out political literature.

“We are not over racism, sexism, transphobia, and homophobia in this community by any stretch of the imagination. I want to be on the forefront of us as a community dealing with these issues head on,” Jenkins said, and announced that she would be hosting a forum on race.

The claim comes at a time when Omar is facing substantial criticism over her anti-Semitic comments. Most recently, Omar suggested that Jewish money is to blame for bipartisan support of Israel, which was widely condemned as a “longstanding anti-Semitic trope and one of the pillars of modern anti-Semitism.”

President Donald Trump addressed Omar’s remarks during a Tuesday cabinet meeting, and said she should resign from Congress.

“One another thing I want to say is that anti-Semitism has no place in the United State Congress, and Congresswoman Omar is—terrible what she said. And I think she should either resign from Congress, or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. What she said is so deep-seated in her heart that her lame apology—that’s what it was, it was lame, and she didn’t mean a word of it,” Trump said, as The Minnesota Sun reported.

– – –

Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Andrea Jenkins” by Andrea Jenkins.