{"id":38753,"date":"2025-04-14T16:46:46","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T16:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/14\/ilhan-omar-quashes-senate-bid-rumors-with-re-election-announcement\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T16:46:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T16:46:46","slug":"ilhan-omar-quashes-senate-bid-rumors-with-re-election-announcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/14\/ilhan-omar-quashes-senate-bid-rumors-with-re-election-announcement\/","title":{"rendered":"Ilhan Omar quashes Senate bid rumors with re-election announcement"},"content":{"rendered":"

High-profile “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar<\/a> effectively closed the door on rumors she would seek Minnesota\u2019s open Senate seat in 2026, with an announcement launching a House re-election bid.<\/p>\n

“At a time when our rights are under attack, it is more important than ever to fight back against the chaos, corruption, and callousness of the Trump Administration,” the Minneapolis Democrat told Minnesota Public Radio.<\/a><\/p>\n

“In Minnesota, we know that organized people will always beat organized money. Our campaign is ready to build on our successful grassroots organizing efforts to have a record turnout for the midterms and help win back the majority,” she said.<\/p>\n

She won her last race for the 5th Congressional District seat handily, defeating Iraq-born Republican journalist<\/a> Dalia al-Aqidi by about 50 points.<\/p>\n

OMAR SLAMS TRUMP, MUSK FOR CHANGES AT USAID, ACCUSES PRESIDENT OF RUNNING A DICTATORSHIP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Omar had been one of several names bandied about as potential successors to Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., who announced last month she would not seek re-election.<\/p>\n

Almost immediately, fellow Democrat Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan\u00a0threw her hat in the ring, while Omar<\/a> and other top potential candidates remained silent.<\/p>\n

One of Omar\u2019s fellow “Squad” members, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has been rumored as a potential 2028 primary opponent to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer.<\/p>\n

In February, Smith \u2013 who was originally appointed by then-Gov. Mark Dayton to succeed Sen. Al Franken after his resignation over sexual misconduct allegations \u2013 said in February that she was ready to spend more time with her family.<\/p>\n

“This decision is not political, it is entirely personal, but it’s not lost on me that our country is in need of strong progressive leadership right now, maybe more than ever,” Smith said.<\/p>\n

REP ILHAN OMAR CRITICIZES NETANYAHU’S GAZA ACTION<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz also declined to seek Smith\u2019s seat, leaving his deputy \u2013 Flanagan \u2013 as the highest-profile Democrat in the race to date.<\/p>\n

“At this point in time, I don’t want to have my thumb on the scale in any way,” Walz said in February.<\/p>\n

“I just know we’ve got a deep bench. We\u2019ve got good folks,” said Walz, who may instead consider a third term<\/a> in St. Paul.<\/p>\n

If elected, Flanagan \u2013 who is Ojibwe \u2013 would be only the fifth U.S. senator of Native American heritage and the second currently in office, alongside Oklahoma Republican Markwayne Mullin.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

On the Republican side, retired Marine and Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze announced a bid and called it his “most important mission of them all.”<\/p>\n

Additionally, former Sacramento Kings player Royce White announced his own bid. White previously lost the 2024 GOP Senate primary.<\/p>\n

The race to succeed Smith will be the Land of 10,000 Lakes\u2019 first open Senate race since 2006 \u2013 when Dayton declined to run for re-election and Sen. Amy Klobuchar defeated then-Rep. Mark Kennedy, R-Minn., by about 19 points.<\/p>\n

Franken has endorsed<\/a> Flanagan.<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital reached out to Omar’s campaign for further comment but did not immediately hear back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

High-profile “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar effectively closed the door on rumors she would seek Minnesota\u2019s open Senate seat in 2026, with an announcement launching a House re-election bid. “At a time when our rights are under attack, it is more important than ever to fight back against the chaos, corruption, and callousness of the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38753\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}