Federal officials searched Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Minnesota home on Monday. President Donald Trump then questioned whether the Somali-born lawmaker had constitutional rights as a naturalized citizen, sharpening concerns that he was using executive power against a political foe.
Abdul El-Sayed, the Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Trump mocked as “Mohammed” and a “jihadist,” said the attacks reached beyond one candidate. “He knows my name is Abdul. He says it everyday,” El-Sayed wrote on X. “But he's not just attacking me. He's attacking all of us. He thinks so low of us. He thinks he can use my name and my faith to distract us from the suffering his policies are inflicting on us at the pump, at the grocery store, and at the doctor's office.”
Power aimed at political rivals
Trump has cast Democratic candidates as threats to what it means to be American. In Tennessee on Saturday, he said, “I call him Mohammed,” adding, “I'm the president, I can call him whatever the hell I want.” On Monday night in Ohio, he called El-Sayed a “jihadist.” The article describes the label as an attempt to make voters see him as a terrorist and security threat; calling him “Mohammed” demeans his individuality and Muslim faith.
El-Sayed, a former executive director of the Detroit Health Department, and James Talarico faced races expected to go down to the wire on November 3. Trump has claimed Talarico is a vegan incompatible with Texas, while Vice President JD Vance joked in Texas on Tuesday that implied Talarico is gay and called him a “freak.” Talarico now often appears pictured with a plate of meat.
The insults come amid political pressure on Republicans. Trump’s approval rating stood at 33% in the latest CNN poll of polls, three weeks before the midterm election. Polls showed majorities blamed his decisions for worsening struggles with the high costs of food, housing, gasoline and diesel. Trump and Vance have visited red states where Republicans hadn’t expected to be fighting in the final stretch.
Who pays for the spectacle
El-Sayed’s account points to the costs voters face at the pump, grocery store and doctor’s office. Trump’s focus on the candidate’s name and faith competes with those material concerns. Republicans have drawn attention to El-Sayed’s claim that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza shortly after the October 7 attacks. Many American Jews, including Democratic voters, object to the term, while mourning the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in the Israel-Hamas war after the terror attacks that killed more than 1,200 people, mostly Israelis, in 2023.
Trump also revived racially derogatory rhetoric suggesting Haitians and Africans are invading key election states such as Ohio. Speaking about Omar, he said, “She's a disaster. She comes in from a country without laws, without police, without military, without — all they do is shoot each other.” He added that Somali people “tell us how to run our country,” and blamed them for driving up taxes and costs.
Minnesota welcomed tens of thousands of Somalis in the early 1990s after Somalia collapsed into violence. The administration says the community includes violent criminals and widespread fraud centered in day care centers. Somali leaders say violent criminals are a tiny minority and that Trump and Republicans are maligning the community without justification. The Department of Justice said it conducted an enforcement operation at Omar’s home. No one could independently verify evidence or accusations against Omar yet.
The vote, and the limits of the contest
Trump’s aides deny that he is racist or uses racist rhetoric, pointing to events marking occasions such as Black History Month and increased support among minority voters in the 2024 election. Party leaders commonly try to disqualify rivals they can’t beat on policy issues; Trump’s attacks on Muslim candidates sit alongside his descriptions of Democrats as “socialists” and “communists.” The campaign continues. Candidates and communities must answer for their names, faith and belonging. Omar said Trump had smeared her for years and was now targeting her as a political enemy.