Originally published at: READY TO RUMBLE: Meet the Iraq War Veteran, Police Officer Coming for Ilhan Omar’s Seat in 2020 | Sean Hannity
Controversial Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is set to face a celebrated Iraqi War veteran during her first run for re-election in 2020; with Independent Chris Kelley formally announcing his campaign to unseat the embattled lawmaker.
“Chris Kelley, who has collected eleven military medals as a 27-year veteran of the U.S. Army and Army Reserves and clocked more than 36,000 hours patrolling the Minnesota streets as a 20-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Force, has his sights set on knocking Omar from her seat representing Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District in 2020,” reports Fox News.
“September 11 was a terrible loss of life, not just for police officers and firefighters and other first responders, but 3,000 people and non-combatants died, and to be dismissive of that was an outrage. I could sit and complain or I could do something about it,” Kelley, who is campaigning as an Independent, told Fox News. “And I believe I can be a positive voice in standing up for people in our country, and for our first responders and the people every day on the frontlines.”
“As former military, I am here to serve and not further my status. I want to do a good job for the people I represent and I don’t have a personal agenda,” said Kelley. “I’m passionate about service and I just want to be able to continue that.”
Ilhan Omar published a scathing op-ed in the New York Times last week; saying America was not what her family “had hoped for” upon arrival from Somalia.
“Throughout history, demagogues have used state power to target minority communities and political enemies, often culminating in state violence. Today, we face that threat in our own country, where the president of the United States is using the influence of our highest office to mount racist attacks on communities across the land,” writes Omar.
“The America we arrived in was different from the one my grandfather had hoped to find. The land of opportunity he imagined was in fact full of challenges. People identified me in ways that were foreign to me: immigrant, black. I learned that these identities carried stigmas, and I experienced prejudice as a visibly Muslim woman,” she adds.
“Our democratic institutions have been weaponized. The Trump administration has sought to restrict people from exercising their voting rights. It has sought to undermine the basic checks and balances of our Constitution by not respecting subpoenas from Congress. And the president has used overtly racist rhetoric to strike fear and division in communities of color and religious minorities across the country,” concludes the Congresswoman.
