Danielle Stella, a congressional candidate attempting to unseat Rep. Ilhan Omar, repeatedly shared a social media post Thursday referring to her incumbent opponent as a “jihadi.”
Ms. Stella, who is running as a Republican for the House seat currently held by Ms. Omar, Minnesota Democrat, shared the smear on both her personal and campaign Facebook accounts.
Originally published on the anti-Muslim “Islam Awareness Digest” page on Facebook, the post encouraged social media users to support Ms. Stella rather than “jihadi Ilhan Omar.”
Ms. Omar, a former Somali refugee and one of the first two Muslim women to be elected to Congress, has been the target of similar attacks from the far-right since taking office in 2019.
Indeed, Ms. Stella was banned from Twitter late last year after tweeting about putting Ms. Omar on trial for treason and having her hanged by the neck until dead if found guilty, The Washington Times first reported.
In addition to sharing the post twice on social media, Ms. Stella repeated the part calling Ms. Omar a “jihadi” in the comments of her official campaign page.
Messages requesting comment from Ms. Omar’s congressional office and re-election campaign were not immediately answered Friday.
The “Islam Awareness Digest” page on Facebook describes itself as being dedicated to discussing the “meaning, intent and impact of Islam as it confronts modern civilization.”
“Islam simply takes over, by any means available,” the same Facebook page posted days earlier. “The active jihadis like Omar pave the path for the *moderate* members of the same cult, on a temporary basis, as they build strength in the Islamic Movement of conquest.”
Ms. Omar and Rep. Rashida Talib, Michigan Democrat, became the country’s first two Muslim congresswomen upon being sworn into office in January 2019.
President Trump came under fire months later when he said that the congresswomen should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
Supporters of Mr. Trump subsequently erupted into chants of “Send her back” when he mentioned Ms. Omar during a campaign event held later that week.
More recently, Ms. Omar referenced the chant while launching her re-election campaign at an event Thursday in downtown Minneapolis.
“I know that there are people who are chanting, ’Send her back.’ But I believe collectively that you are going to send me back to Congress,” said Ms. Omar.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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