Republican congressional candidate Dalia Al-Aqidi has warned that Minneapolis mayoral candidate Omar Fateh is a ‘copy-paste’ of New York’s socialist Zohran Mamdani. Al-Aqidi argues that Fateh’s policies and rhetoric mirror those of Mamdani, potentially leading to similar outcomes in Minneapolis.
Al-Aqidi, an Iraqi American Muslim running against Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, criticized the media’s focus on Mamdani while neglecting the Minneapolis race. She argued that the Democratic Socialists of America are advancing a dangerous economic and public safety agenda in Minneapolis, similar to Mamdani’s platform in New York. Al-Aqidi pointed to the 2020 riots in Minneapolis, which devastated the city’s infrastructure and led to poor public school test scores and an understaffed police force. She warned that a Fateh victory would exacerbate these issues.
Fateh, a Muslim and member of the Minnesota state Senate, has gained strong support from the Somali community in Minneapolis while promoting a Democratic Socialist agenda. He has committed to raising the city’s minimum wage, increasing affordable housing, and combating what he calls police violence. Fateh, like Mamdani, has called for replacing some police duties with community-led alternatives and issuing legal IDs to illegal immigrants. Fox News Digital reached out to the Fateh campaign for comment, but the response was not provided.
Al-Aqidi also took issue with a viral video showing Fateh waving a Somali state flag at a rally while alternating between English and Somali, presumably addressing a Somali crowd. She argued that waving a foreign flag in any other part of the world would be frowned upon and that Fateh