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Royce White's campaign to win back DFL U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar's Fifth Congressional District for the GOP for the first time in more than half a century began Tuesday standing alone in the biting cold of a snowstorm outside the Minneapolis Federal Reserve.

White first rose to national prominence as an outspoken mental health advocate during his basketball career. His activism has ranged from leading protests against police brutality to taking up anti-vaccination and other conservative causes.

Now, after becoming a regular guest on ex-Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon's online shows, White is waging what he calls a "huge battle right now … versus a globalist agenda" by seeking to unseat one of Republicans' favorite targets of ire.

"This district has been voting blue for a long time and I hope that I can shake that up," White said in an interview Tuesday. "I hope that I can make people see that for a long time they voted against their own interests."

Bannon's endorsement represents the first words that appear in the two-minute announcement video White shared on social media Tuesday. In the video, White said that his problem with Omar "isn't that she's not an American or that she's not from Minnesota."

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https://www.startribune.com/ex-nba-player-royce-white-seeks-to-challenge-u-s-rep-ilhan-omar-as-a-republican/600149401/