Don Samuels spoke about the future of north Minneapolis during an interview in the Jordan neighborhood on July 2, 2021, in Minneapolis. (Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

What is Don Samuels thinking? I mean, really.

Last week, a person on Twitter questioned why Samuels was challenging Rep. Ilhan Omar for her seat in Congress 20 months after a tragic incident in which a child drowned under the care of Samuels and his wife, Sondra. Samuels callously responded: "Can't swim but can govern."

For background, the Samuelses took five children on a bike ride to the Mississippi River and, without Don knowing how to swim, they allowed the children to play in the water. Six-year-old Isaac Childress III was tragically swept away and drowned. Sondra, Samuels' wife, later agreed to pay over $300,000 in a "wrongful death" settlement.

To be clear, no one should be carelessly talking about the pain of the grieving family of a 6-year-old, and the circumstances of his death should be handled with sensitivity and caution. That is why it is so shocking and irresponsible that Samuels responded this way.

All of which brings us back to my first question: What is Don Samuels thinking?

Realistically, he's not the ideal candidate to run against Omar. The 72-year-old anti-choice former toy executive was best known before 2021 for a school board run backed by out-of-state anti-public education billionaires. In 2007, he said we should "burn North High School down," referring to the brilliant high school in Omar's Fifth Congressional District.

Recently, he's been in the news for other problematic lawsuits — like his suing the city of Minneapolis twice (in favor of the police) in the wake of George Floyd's murder — and picking fights with people who do not have places to use the bathroom. In last year's city election, he endorsed Mickey Moore, a City Council candidate known for wildly anti-Semitic 9/11 truther conspiracy theories who lied about living in the ward in which he was running.

Exactly why Don Samuels is running, we don't know. In a string of interviews with local media (few of which have challenged Samuels on his policy positions, much less his history of problematic issues), he has declined to name his disagreements with Omar other than the Minneapolis Police Department (over which Omar does not have authority as a federal representative). Instead he fell back on platitudes like calling himself a uniter (laughable to anyone who knows Samuels and his history).

His candidacy seems especially odd given Omar's current streak of successes. Despite all the anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, anti-Black and anti-woman harassment she endures, she has been a reliable leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

She fought tirelessly for President Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan, including major investments in housing, public education, food security and climate mitigation. That bill passed the House but has so far been held up in the Senate (thanks to West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin). And Omar has been a courageous voice on peace and human rights accountability globally, including in Ukraine, Latin America, China, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and, yes, Palestine.

This month, she successfully brought over $17 million home to the district — including funding for food entrepreneurship on the North Side, rebuilding on Lake Street, job training for green energy jobs and more.

Ironically, we've seen more local coverage of Samuels' long shot challenge than of Omar's congressional work.

What's more likely is that Samuels is the latest in a series of increasingly desperate efforts by conservatives outside the district to unseat the first Black woman elected to Congress in Minnesota. We all remember 2020, when nearly $20 million was spent against Omar only for her to win by nearly 20 points in the primary and nearly 40 points in the general election. Much of that money came from Republicans outside the district, who remain eager to take out a strong Black woman representing America's diversity and progress.

The Samuels candidacy is also playing with fire. This year Minnesota has two vulnerable Democratic members of Congress up for re-election, along with DFL Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison. Both Walz and Ellison need high turnout in the Fifth District to win. The last thing we need is another vicious and confusing primary battle wasting resources and taking and energy away from these races, in addition to dividing people ahead of the general election.

Samuels may not be too concerned. He said just last month that he wasn't sure he was a DFLer.

So my ask to Don Samuels is to just stop. Suspend your campaign. Don't undermine the party you now claim to belong to ahead of a difficult midterm. Don't put the district through another divisive and wasteful primary. Do not weaponize the pain of my community on the North Side when we are still working to heal from COVID and the ensuing economic crisis. Step aside, for the sake of the community and yourself.

Roxxanne O'Brien is a community organizer in Minneapolis.