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By Katelyn Caralle, U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.com
July 20, 2022
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11031745/GOP-rival-Cicely-Davis-says-Ilhan-Omar-focused-celebrity-activism-doing-job.html
The leading Republican to take on squad member Ilhan Omar in November says the far-left lawmaker is mostly interested in ‘celebrity activism’ and claims her actions are a ‘wrecking ball to progress’.
Cicely Davis, in an interview with DailyMail.com, said that Omar is an ‘insult’ to Minnesotans she represents in the 5th congressional district – and specifically those within the Somali-American community.
‘Ilhan Omar, in my opinion, has been remarkably ineffective in her role as the congresswoman here representing this district,’ Davis said.
‘That was absolutely manifested in video and seen across the world,’ she added, referencing the incident earlier this month where a full stadium booed Omar's appearance at a Somali music festival, telling her to ‘get the f*** out’.
She also said that most of Omar's actions are just ‘activist theater’ and a way for her to ‘increase her celebrity status.’
The progressive Somali-American lawmaker was arrested outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday along with fellow squad member and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The two were part of a group of Democratic lawmakers protesting the overturn of Roe v. Wade last month.
Both lawmakers were seen walking away with police with their hands behind their backs as though they were in handcuffs, even though neither were bound by their wrists.
‘Ilhan Omar rallying against the official ruling at the Minnesota State Capitol this past Sunday to her brazen embrace of political theater at the Supreme Court – it's clear she is more interested in fact-free, celebrity activism than in actually doing her job and writing legislation that can pass Congress,’ Davis told DailyMail.com Tuesday in a follow up from last week’s wide-range interview.
She added that Omar is interested in running against the abortion ruling and former President Donald Trump rather than on their own record or real issues like public safety and the economy.
Davis said that the jeers from voters at the Target Center over Independence Day weekend were also in part constituents’ denunciation of the congresswoman, but also a response from the community after she compared Minneapolis to a Somali refugee camp where she and her family settled after fleeing war in the 1990s and before coming to America.
‘Imagine how insulting that sounds to those who had fled there, and to understand it's precisely what they left behind,’ Davis said. ‘This was an insult to them… She just doesn't bear their values.’
‘It's something I've been hearing from them,’ Davis added of the dissatisfaction of voters with who represents them in D.C. ‘And again, it was nice to have it come from their mouth and to be seen via video. And so that was just confirmation and manifestation.’
‘You know, when you have a Target Center full of her community members and they are booing – those are her people, that's her culture,’ Davis told DailyMail.com in a phone interview.
‘And a resounding boo, a booming boo for minutes on end gives you an indication that she's not connected, that she is absolutely tone deaf. And the fact that they are willing to so blatantly express their disgust for her, gives you an indication as to what congressional District 5 is feeling, what we're experiencing and the reflection of her leadership.’
Davis also claimed that constituents in Minneapolis aren’t pleased with Omar’s push to defund police and said that the area has always had a big independent voter push that she is hoping to tap to defeat the lawmaker come November.
Minnesotans here haven't forgotten that she led the charge to defund the police,’ Davis told DailyMail.com in the interview last week. ‘So thankfully that was on the ballot box.’
‘She was supposed to represent and understood the risk that it poses for their safety specifically. The soaring crime rate can’t be papered over with fancy political slogans,’ Davis added. ‘And so, you know, the bottom line is, is that Ilhan Omar is just simply ineffective.’
‘This is about activist theater, it’s about gas lighting issues. She’s offering no real way to make change and so she’s just more about, you know, increasing her celebrity status than actually bringing about policies to bring about change.’
To take on Omar, however, Davis must first win the GOP primary on August 9 against two other candidates. The contest, however, is virtually none for Davis as she emerged the most likely candidate to advance to the general election later this year.
‘Ilhan Omar is a complete wrecking ball to progress for any of the constituents here and my point is to just simply step in, step up and hold her to account,’ Davis insisted.
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