Representative-elect Ilhan Omar, D-MN, attends a press conference in the House Visitors Center at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on November 30, 2018.
Omar faces backlash from Muslim and Jewish constituents
04:01 - Source: CNN
CNN  — 

A political organization closely aligned with the Republican establishment is launching an advertising campaign this week to take on freshman Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota over her comments earlier this year that were widely condemned as anti-Semitic.

An official from American Action Network, a conservative advocacy nonprofit group, told CNN the organization will spend six figures on digital ads that criticize Omar for questioning the allegiance of members of Congress who support the state of Israel. The ads charge that Omar “keeps hurling anti-Semitic slurs” and includes images of a now-deleted tweet from 2012 in which the future congresswoman stated “Israel has hypnotized the world.”

Calling Omar’s seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee “inappropriate,” the ads call on House Democrats to “stand up to hate” and remove her from the committee, an effort Republicans in the House have pushed for for months.

The crop of ads suggests the beginning of an effort by the GOP establishment to make Omar, along her fellow outspoken freshmen Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, the new boogeywomen of the Democratic Party. One Republican operative compared these younger progressives to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who for years has appeared in GOP ads as an effective tool against Democratic candidates.

Omar is also under fire with Republicans back in Minnesota, where Republicans in that state filed a campaign finance complaint alleging that she improperly spent $6,000 of campaign funds for personal expenses. The state’s campaign finance board is reportedly preparing to issue a ruling, Sinclair Broadcasting first reported.

AAN, which was founded by former Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, also of Minnesota, and the recently deceased GOP donor Fred Malek, has close ties with Republican House leadership. The group is affiliated with the Congressional Leadership Fund, a well-funded political action committee focusing on supporting GOP House candidates.

According to an official at AAN, the 30-second online ads target swing voters and voters who have been identified as concerned about national security in four House districts held by freshman Democrats, including a new congressman in a district adjacent to Omar’s, Rep. Dean Phillips. Ads will also run in the districts of Reps. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Tom Malinowski of New Jersey, and Haley Stevens of Michigan.

Omar did not respond to a request for comment for this report, nor did spokespeople for Spanberger, Malinowski and Stevens. A spokesman for Phillips said the congressman declined to comment.

As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, AAN is not required to disclose its donors. During the 2018 election cycle, CLF’s top two donors were casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam, who each donated more than $25 million. The Adelsons have long donated to both the Republican Party and to pro-Israel political advocacy groups.

This campaign, says an AAN official, may later expand to targeting other Democratic House members over Omar’s comments.

Omar’s comments in the first few weeks of the year sparked a backlash among not only Republicans but several of her fellow Democrats in the House. After Omar said that support for Israel was motivated by donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, House Democratic leaders collectively accused her of using “anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations” and called her remarks “deeply offensive.”

On February 12, Omar released a statement saying “I unequivocally apologize” for her remarks, but later said pro-Israel lobbyists pushed members of Congress to pledge allegiance to a “foreign country.” An effort in March to pass a resolution condemning anti-Semitism in the wake of those remarks was temporarily sidetracked after allies of Omar argued that Republicans, including President Donald Trump and Rep. Steve King of Iowa, had been guilty of making bigoted remarks. The resolution was rewritten to include many forms of hate, which left some Democratic members frustrated, and passed the House on March 7.