“How did the horrible Ilhan Omar and horrible Rashida Tlaib get elected without any experience? They ran unopposed, in districts that are completely Democrat. ”
Actually they were NOT unopposed. Omar won a five way primary with 48.5% of the vote; one of her opponents was a former Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives. The Republicans were stupid enough to nominate a Trumpie to run against her in the general election and Omar won with 78% of the vote. The seat isn’t gerrymandered; Minneapolis has long been friendly to politicians on the left.
Tlaib won her primary with 31.2% of the vote. Second place went to Brenda Jones, President of the Detroit City Council, with 30.2% of the vote. Republicans had gerrymandered the district to pack as many African American Democrats into one district as possible so that they would not vote out Republicans. Tlaib snuck in because the African American politicians could not agree on one candidate. Jones actually won the special election the same day for the same seat and served in Congress for a few weeks. The Republicans screwed up and failed to get a candidate on the ballot at all; Tlaib won the general election with 84% of the vote against minor party and write in candidates. The gerrymander failed, as happens in wave elections such as 2018 where Democrats swept every statewide race and flipped two suburban seats.