U.S. House of Representatives “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) endorsed the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington state, who is attempting to unseat a fellow Democrat in the state legislature, part of a growing trend in the state.

Imraan Siddiqi, who is running as a Democrat and was endorsed back in March by another progressive “Squad” member, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), said on Wednesday that he was “honored” to receive Omar’s endorsement.

“This one is big,” he wrote. He called Omar a “fighter for justice.”

He is a candidate for the state House in the 32nd Legislative District, position two, challenging incumbent Democrat Lauren Davis.

Before leading CAIR’s Washington state office, Siddiqi served as executive director of the Arizona CAIR chapter from 2015 to 2020. Under his leadership, the Washington chapter has drawn criticism for involvement in an April event that encouraged participants to send letters to convicted terrorists in prison.

Earlier in June, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asked the U.S. State Department to review claims that CAIR’s Washington office may have misused federal funds and cited allegations of “connections between CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood and its Palestinian branch, Hamas.”

Omar’s endorsement comes as far-left anti-Israel candidates are winning Democratic primaries nationwide, most notably in New York.

Siddiqi celebrated Darializa Avila Chevalier, who has refused to condemn Hamas, winning her Democratic primary in New York against a Democratic incumbent. “Another Muslim, anti-war candidate about to be elected Insha’Allah,” he wrote.

“Progressive challengers ousting the establishment all over the country,” Siddiqi wrote on social media on Tuesday. “Let’s continue that trend, Washington.”

‘The cart before the horse’

Also in the 32nd Legislative District, state representative Cindy Ryu, a Korean American and Democrat who holds position one, is leaving her seat to challenge a fellow Democrat in the Washington state Senate, Jesse Salomon, co-chair of the Jewish Caucus. She has reportedly said that he is too moderate.

Another left-wing candidate, Hannah Sabio-Howell, running as a Democrat for state Senate in the 43rd Legislative District, is challenging a fellow Democrat, incumbent state senator Jamie Pederson, the state Senate majority leader.

Pederson is considered left-wing by conservative lawmakers in the state, but Sabio-Howell has criticized him for being too friendly with big business. She received the endorsements of progressive and socialist lawmakers and groups and is running on a platform of taxing the rich.

Socialist groups have explicitly stated that they encourage candidates to run as Democrats.

David Duhalde, former deputy director of the Democratic Socialists of America, wrote in 2019 that “DSA members seem content running candidates primarily, but not exclusively, as Democrats.”

“For the most part, members seem to accept that this is the most effective way to achieve electoral success in our political system, and that in the absence of legal changes that make effective independent political action more feasible, running candidates outside of the Democratic Party puts the cart before the horse,” he wrote. “Less discussed, however, are the ways in which DSA could potentially change the Democratic Party.”

“We should begin to build an organized democratic socialist faction within party structures across the country,” he wrote.

The Washington state primary is scheduled for Aug. 4. Voters may choose among all candidates running for each office and do not have to declare a party affiliation to vote in the primary.

The two candidates who receive the most votes qualify for the general election, even if they prefer the same party. In races where no Republican is running, sitting Democrats will likely face off against more left-wing challengers in the general election in November.