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The race in California's 50th district between Hunter, son of a long revered Congressman, and his Democratic opponent, Ammar Campa-Najjar, separated from his father and raised by his Mexican-American mother in California, is that of the Democrats never really believed was winnable after Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the 15-point district.
But Hunter's two-pronged strategy of clashing with the "deep state" and what he claims to be a corrupt Ministry of Justice, then presenting his young opponent as a security threat National has made the campaign a fascinating test of political survival in central Diego County.
In his latest salvo in a district where many voters are active and retired military, Hunter sent an election campaign article presented as a "security alert" to the voters of three retired generals, again attracting attention to the roots of Campa-Najjar in the Middle East. potential "dangers" of electing him to Congress.
The letter notes that Campa-Najjar's father was involved, until recently, in "Yasser Arafat's PLO" and states that voters should be alarmed by the fact that the paternal grandfather of the democrat helped prepare the attack of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Germany. Although Campa-Najjar is separated from his father and never met his grandfather, Hunter says that by choosing him, the Californians would endanger US troops and secret military projects.
Hunter's missive claims that the army, air force, navy and special operations "undertake military missions against terrorism in the Middle East even as you read this letter. Their location and movements are highly secretive … except for members of Congress who have the right to see confidential information. "
"If the Democratic candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar was elected and saw secret information about US military operations likely to endanger his Najjar family members in the Middle East, would he jeopardize US operations to protect his family, Najjars? " the mailer asks. "We would not bet the lives of our troops on the bet, we hope you will not do it either."
In an interview on Monday, Campa-Najjar said that he had strongly condemned the involvement of his grandfather, who died several years before his birth, in the violence at the Olympics.
Campa-Najjar, 29, noted that his father had spent only two weeks in the United States since 1995 and recently spoke in public about his desire for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
"He's turning on him, he's desperate," Campa-Najjar said of Hunter's efforts to link him to terrorism.
The young former Obama administration assistant said he had been acquitted by two federal background checks – the first when he had worked as a trainee at the White House in 2013 by reading letters sent to President Barack Obama and the second in 2016 when he became assistant in the Obama Department of Labor. He noted that these comprehensive background checks of the FBI included an exploration of his family history and relationships.
"His father and father are not congressional candidates this time, it's him and him," Campa-Najjar said of Hunter. "The narrative arc he's trying to create is simply not true in the eyes of the law enforcement, the Department of Justice, the law enforcement, the FBI, have made decisions to our "They allowed me to work at the White House, the accused."
"It's a tough district," said Campa-Najjar, in eastern San Diego County, an increasingly diverse region because of the high cost of living on the coast. Voters attach great importance to personal responsibility, "he said," and Hunter's overriding sin is his refusal to understand personal responsibility – he demonstrated that he blamed the GM, blamed his wife , blamed me, blamed the dead never met, blaming a separate father. He really feels despair. "
In his initial statement in response to the dispatch, Campa-Najjar asserted that "Although Hunter has no human sense of responsibility, voters understand that his family is not responsible for his acts and that I am not responsible for the acts of my family ".
The Campa-Najjar campaign rejected mail as part of Hunter's "xenophobic and racist" campaign and called on Republican leaders to condemn it. American Democrats Meaning. Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont have all condemned this rhetoric.
The Hunter campaign did not return a comment request.
Probably because his seat seemed safe, Hunter, one of the first members of Congress to publicly support Trump, had largely ignored Campa-Najjar's efforts to mobilize him for a good part of the year. . In the spring, Campa-Najjar, a former Obama campaign manager, easily got the endorsement of the California Democratic Party and then beat other Democrats among California's two most important primaries.
In a clear sign of race tightening, Hunter has stepped up its attacks on the Palestinian legacy of Campa-Najjar in recent weeks, including publishing an ad accusing Campa-Najjar of wanting to "infiltrate" Congress.
"He used three different names to hide his family's ties to terrorism," Hunter said. "Ammar Campa-Najjar: A risk we can not ignore."
At a protest that took place last month in front of a group of GOP women, Hunter said that Campa-Najjar had changed its name from "Ammar Yasser Najjar to Ammar Campa-Najjar …" so has the Hispanic look ".
"It is besides the difficulty, by the way, that radical Muslims are trying to infiltrate the government," Hunter said, according to a recording of the event obtained by the San Times. Diego.
Campa-Najjar's mother, Abigail Campa, Catholic, published a Spanish reply on Twitter explaining that she had raised her son in San Diego as a single mother.
Campa-Najjar took the beating, pointing to a flood of donations in the two days following Hunter's charge.
Hunter set up a legal fees trust earlier this year, but he was also forced to divert tens of thousands of dollars from his campaign account for his legal bills while he was defending himself.
In the third quarter, Campa-Najjar raised $ 1.4 million, much more than Hunter's $ 132,000. Before the last leg of the race, Hunter had $ 247,000 in cash, compared to $ 685,000 for Campa-Najjar.
One of the groups that came to Campa-Najjar's defense is J Street, who endorsed it because it supports a two-state solution as part of the introduction of peace in the Middle East. The group also noted Campa-Najjar's unique view of the issue as he lived in Gaza for four years before fleeing the violence and returning to San Diego County, where he was born. .
JStreetPAC, which sponsored approximately 180 candidates in the House and Senate during this cycle, helped the Democratic candidate raise nearly $ 50,000. Many of these donations were made after CAP sent donors an e-mail about Hunter's attacks.
"We find that these attacks on Ammar are shameful and very much rooted in fanaticism and fear," said Logan Bayroff, J Street's director of communications. "They clearly have no basis in fact.They are not on politics.They are not on safety.They want to try to sow fear based on Ammar's Arab and Hispanic heritage. "
"He thinks he can exploit the fears of the voters," said Campa-Najjar on Monday, "but some Republicans came to support me, not despite the attacks but because of his attacks.It is a fundamental misunderstanding the character of our neighborhood. "
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