Rep. Ilhan Omar, the Democrat from Minnesota, has been a figure of frequent controversy for much of her public career. She’s been accused of anti-Semitism, she’s dealt with baseless rumors that she married her brother, and more recently she’s been part of a bitter feud with President Donald Trump, who has been launching nearly daily attacks on Omar and the other freshman congresswomen known as “The Squad.”
Now, there’s a chance Rep. Omar will be running her next election against someone from a fringe political movement.
Per Right Wing Watch , a woman named Danielle Stella is planning to run as a Republican against Omar for Congress in 2020. And Stella, per a spokesperson, is a believer in the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Stella “stands 100% behind the principles of patriotism, unity/inclusiveness (WWG1WGA!) and love for country that Qanon promotes,” the spokesperson said after a reporter reached out through the campaign’s contact submission tool.
“WWG1WGA,” which stands for “when we go one we go all,” is a slogan associated with QAnon, a conspiracy theory which claims that President Trump is engaged in a secret war against the “deep state,” that mass arrests of that deep state are imminent, that large numbers of Democrats and Hollywood figures are pedophiles, and that an anonymous message board poster known as “Q” is slowly parceling out cryptic clues.
People wearing “Q” gear and carrying signs that reference the theory are frequently seen at Trump’s rallies, although few political figures have actually declared their support for the movement. Matthew Lusk of Florida is the only other Congressional candidate to make such a declaration, per Right Wing Watch.
Stella’s campaign website describes her as “a special education needs professional” and states that while she had no prior ambitions to run for office, “a result of the lack of honorable representation for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district” caused her to make a run.
The campaign site hosts a YouTube embed of Importing Ilhan , a short documentary produced earlier this year by controversial conservative media personalities Laura Loomer and Jacob Wohl, which alleges, per The Inquisitr , that Omar both had married her brother and did not actually operate her district office in Minneapolis.
Stella faces an uphill battle as the Minnesota 5th Congressional District, which Omar represents, is heavily Democratic. Per Ballotpedia , Omar won the general election in the district in 2018 with 78 percent of the vote over that year’s Republican candidate Jennifer Zielinski.
