A 2020 election cycle that began with the defeat of progressives’ preferred presidential candidates is coming to a climax with a string of progressive victories in the House of Representatives.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a first-term progressive, soundly defeated her primary challenger, attorney Antone Melton-Meaux, on Tuesday.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York handily dispatched a well-funded challenger in June, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan defeated hers earlier this month.
The fourth Squad member, Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, is unopposed in her Sept. 1 primary ― as well as the general election in November.
With Omar’s race over, all four members of the “Squad” of progressive first-term members of the House have won their primaries. Given the overwhelmingly Democratic character of their districts, that means they are all but officially headed back to Washington next year.
The likelihood of unseating an incumbent member of Congress drops precipitously after their first reelection fight. That suggests that for now, the Squad is safe.
The question in the next Congress is whether the four-member crew comes into its own as a subgroup within the Congressional Progressive Caucus capable of leveraging its votes as a bloc, particularly on party-line legislation where Democratic leaders need their votes.
Should they choose to go that route, they will have at least two additional Squadmates on their side. Cori Bush of Missouri and Jamaal Bowman of New York unseated veteran incumbents this year, running on similar ideological platforms. | 
