MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | Ilhan Omar Wins Minneapolis-Area DFL Primary With More Than 80 Percent of Vote

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar easily won the DFL primary in Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District, defeating four challengers and advancing to a three-candidate November general election against Republican John Nagel and Independent candidate DeVelle L. Jackson.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (August 12, 2026) U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar secured the Democratic-Farmer-Labor nomination for another term representing Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District, capturing more than 80 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s primary.

Omar defeated Julie T. Le, Abena McKenzie, Latonya Reeves and Nate Schluter in the overwhelmingly Democratic district, according to unofficial election results.

Omar will advance to the November 3 general election against Republican nominee John Nagel and Independent candidate DeVelle L. Jackson.

Nagel secured the Republican nomination in Tuesday’s primary, while Jackson qualified for the general-election ballot as an Independent candidate. Minnesota Secretary of State records list all three candidates in the Fifth Congressional District race.

The Fifth District includes Minneapolis and several surrounding communities. Its strong Democratic voting history makes the DFL primary particularly consequential in determining who will represent the district in Congress.

Different contest from 2024

Omar faced a substantially different political environment from her 2024 primary, when former Minneapolis City Council Member Don Samuels mounted a well-financed challenge and finished within approximately 13 percentage points.

None of Omar’s 2026 challengers entered the primary with comparable campaign funding or institutional support. That allowed the incumbent to concentrate more attention on federal immigration enforcement, the Trump administration and national policy questions.

Omar has served in the House since January 2019. She is the first Somali American elected to Congress and one of the first two Muslim women to serve in the House of Representatives.

She has become a nationally prominent progressive voice on immigration, health care, housing, student debt, foreign policy and economic inequality.

Immigration and security remain prominent

Omar has made opposition to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies a central priority.

Shortly before the primary, she said a Homeland Security Investigations agent had been observed outside one of her constituent meetings in Richfield. Local police investigated the circumstances, according to Omar’s public account.

The reported incident followed a January town hall in Minneapolis where a man lunged toward Omar and sprayed her with a substance later identified as apple cider vinegar.

Omar was not seriously injured and continued the event.

Her decisive primary victory gives her another DFL nomination, but the election results remain unofficial until completion of the canvassing process.

Election information:

• CBS Minnesota
• Minnesota Secretary of State Election Results

CORRECTION, AUGUST 22, 2026: An earlier version of this article incorrectly described the November 3 general election in Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District as a contest between DFL nominee Ilhan Omar and Republican nominee John Nagel. Independent candidate DeVelle L. Jackson is also on the ballot. The article has been corrected to identify all three candidates.

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