Representative Ilhan Omar had time on Friday to fire back at President Donald Trump after months of campaign rallies where he used her as a punching bag and leveled dozens of overtly racist insults toward the congresswoman.
Throughout his campaign, Trump used Omar's identity as a Black Muslim woman to galvanize his largely white base. Trump not only called her "crazy," but a "horrible woman who hates our country."
"One of the reason's we're going to win Minnesota: Ilhan Omar," he said at a recent rally before November 3.
He routinely led "Send Her Back" chants at his rallies and devoted significant parts of his campaign speeches to bashing her.
Ironically enough, Trump lost Minnesota handily on November 3, in part thanks to Omar's work. His opponent, Democratic candidate Joe Biden, won the state 52% to 45%.
In an interview with The Intercept's Ryan Grim, Omar explained why the party was able to secure a win in the state and spoke about Trump's grave misconceptions.
Grim asked her about Trump's comments suggesting her mere existence in the state would deliver him victory against Biden.
“He effed around and found out,” she said. "You get what you organize for and we've been massively organizing our state our district for this turnout."
She went on to explain that when the coronavirus pandemic hit, Biden's campaign decided to pull all of its in-person canvassing efforts in Minnesota and other crucial states, believing that everything could be done digitally or through the phone.
But Omar, and many other left-wing politicians in swing states like Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib, disagreed and told the Biden campaign that they would do the door-to-door campaigning themselves.
"They believed it could get done without door to door campaigning. You all don't have to be involved. I can do it all alone. You just have to trust that we can get it done here," she said she told the Biden campaign.
"I'm really proud of the fact that they allowed us to do that and didn't interfere," she added.
She also noted that after winning her own primary, she kept up her operation and still canvassed in high-traffic areas to push local voters to get registered and come out for Biden, which millions did.
Omar's efforts mirror those in other major cities like Detroit, Atlanta and Philadelphia, which may end up providing crucial votes to push Biden into the presidency.
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