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A Democratic candidate for a seat at California House invoked the name of a well-known Republican senator who had rejected an Islamophobic attack to denounce a similar story used by the outgoing president for the GOP party.
"The first idea that came to my mind is that Republican John McCain would be in his grave today when he saw this ad," Democrat Ammar Campa told ABC News on Wednesday. -Najjar about his opponent's attempt to associate him with terrorism. He referred to a campaign moment in 2008 when McCain, then GOP presidential candidate, defended his Democratic opponent Barack Obama against a voter who called himself "Arab". McCain died in August.
Representative Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), Opponent of Campa-Najjar, faces a tough battle for re-election in a conservative district near San Diego after being charged in August for using hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds for personal expenses. He appealed to his father, himself a long-time congressman, and several Marine Corps retirees to accuse Campa-Najjar of sympathizing with the terrorists.
Hunter's campaign also stated in an advertisement that Campa-Najjar had changed his name to hide his family's ties to terrorism and portrayed him as a Muslim radical who would "infiltrate" Congress and pose a threat to national security.
"More than any poll … this announcement shows you that I'm not a threat to national security, but I'm just as dangerous as Duncan Hunter's headquarters," Campa-Najjar added. Interview with ABC News.
Campa-Najjar, 29, of Palestinian and Latin American descent, would be among the youngest members of Congress when he was elected in November. Previously, he had worked in the Obama administration as the Public Affairs Officer of the Department of Labor, where he had obtained a federal security clearance. He is also a Christian.
Quarterly Congress via Getty Images Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar invoked the name of the late GOP Senator John McCain against Islamaphobic attacks as part of his opposition to Representative Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.).
Hunter's attacks touch on the controversial family history of Campa-Najjar, including the participation of his grandfather, Yasser al-Najjar, in the deadly assault of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Campa-Najjar said that he had never known his grandfather, killed by Israeli agents 16 years before the candidate's birth. He condemned the Munich attack and said that he should not be judged by the acts of his family member.
Hunter Sr., the father of the GOP congressman, spoke to reporters in front of a retired downtown aircraft carrier in San Diego earlier this week to discuss his case against Campa-Najjar. Holding billboards with pictures of the Campa-Najjar family, the former congressman accused the Democrat of maintaining ties with his father, a former member of the Liberation Organization of Palestine.
"Very simple, it has nothing to do with race, but with terrorism," Hunter Sr. told reporters. "That's terrorism."
Campa-Najjar, discreetly listening, shook hands with the former congressman after his presentation revealed that he was far from his father.
"Duncan Hunter Jr. can not stand up like an adult man and lead his own battles," Campa-Najjar said. "He can not stay next to me."
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