Analysis Shows Ilhan Omar Had the Biggest 'Underperformance by Any House Incumbent in the Country'
Rep. Ilhan Omar had the “biggest underperformance” in her own congressional district, underperforming presumptive President-elect Joe Biden by 16 percentage points, according to an analysis by Cook Political Report.
Editor Dave Wasserman tweeted his findings on the Minnesota Democrat’s performance Tuesday and Wednesday.
“The biggest top-of-ticket underperformance by any House incumbent in the country? Rep. Ilhan Omar (D),” Wasserman wrote.
In Minnesota’s 5th congressional district, Biden received 328,764 votes, President Donald Trump received 72,323 votes, Omar received 255,920 votes and her Republican challenger Lacy Johnson received 102,878 votes.
“In fact, I’m not aware of anywhere near this severe an underperformance for any other House *candidate* in the county, let alone an incumbent,” Wasserman added.
The biggest top-of-ticket underperformance by any House incumbent in the country? Rep. Ilhan Omar (D). Results in #MN05:
Biden 328,764 (80%)
Trump 72,323 (18%)Omar (D) 255,920 (64%)
Johnson (R) 102,878 (26%)— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) November 25, 2020
Omar also underperformed in 2018 when she beat Republican candidate Jennifer Zielinski 78 percent to 21.7 percent of the votes, according to Ballotpedia.
Although Biden is presumed to have won the White House pending legal challenges from President Donald Trump, the election brought the Democratic Party mostly disappointing results, The Washington Examiner reported.
Projections from FiveThirtyEight showed Democrats would add as many as 22 seats to their majority.
Instead, Republicans gained seats and Democrats ended up with the slimmest House majority since World War II.
Some Democrats blamed the far-left wing of the party, including Omar’s fellow “Squad” members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, for the crushing defeats across the country.
“We need to not ever use the word ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again. … We lost good members because of that,” Democratic Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger said during a conference call following the election, The Washington Post reported.
“If we are classifying Tuesday as a success … we will get f—ing torn apart in 2022.”
Omar defended herself and other progressive Democrats two weeks later, saying that the Democratic Party is one “big family.”
“We all have our own constituencies that we have to serve. We are part of a caucus working on behalf of the people. We think of ourselves as the party of the people.” Omar said, according to Fox News.
“There was a movement that happened this summer, and it delivered this victory, the rise of the amount of people that registered to vote.
“We owe to the movement to make sure that the chaos that they voted against does not follow us to our caucus. And to make sure that the justice that they seek is implemented in the policies that we advocate for.”
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