Muslim Refugee Journalist Challenges Ilhan Omar’s Congressional Seat: ‘She Does Not Speak For Me’

A Muslim refugee and journalist is challenging Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar as a Republican, saying the Minnesota representative “divides” the United States.

Dalia al-Aqidi promises unity rather than division as she announced her campaign Thursday. The journalist, who has formerly been shadow-banned from Twitter after criticizing Omar, fled with her mother from Iraq as a child, just as Omar came to America as a refugee from Somalia. Al-Aquidi, however, says that Omar uses both her background as a weapon in identity politics and that the two women “couldn’t be further apart.”

“She needs to be stopped,” al-Aqidi told Fox News. “I truly believe that I’m strong enough to beat her at her own game.”

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“I’ve gone from refugee to journalist, to the war zones, to the White House,” al-Aquidi says in a campaign video released Thursday. “I’ve gone from a frightened girl to a determined fighter against oppression, wherever I find it. And sometimes, that is closer than we think.”

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The journalist warns that division threatens to tear apart the United States from within, as her campaign video pans over images of Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Omar, and Democratic Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff.

“We might seem nearly alike, both Muslims, both women, both refugees,” the journalist says. “But we couldn’t be further apart. She spends her time in congress sowing seeds of division, actively supporting our enemies.”

Al-Aquidi notes that when President Donald Trump “ended the murderous reign of Quasem Soleimani, a vicious terrorist, killer of American soldiers and countless innocent civilians, Ilhan Omar was outraged, attacking the president, defending the terrorists, driving us further and further apart.”

But al-Aquidi that she was “so proud” of the United States and proud of Trump for taking out Soleimani.

“She claims to speak for all Muslims, but she does not speak for me,” al-Aquidi adds.