Democrat Campa-Najjar Goes Over to the Dark Side in the 50th Congressional District
The warning signs have been there for months. Even as Congressional candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar was tapping local progressive energy to phonebank and fundraise on his behalf, his political stances were shifting.
Excuses were made, usually along the lines of Campa-Najjar making an effort to reach out to voters who’d never considered voting for anybody other than whatever corrupt curmudgeon was placed on the ballot by Republicans.
The East County native has been campaigning in the 50th District for four years now. He lost to ex-Rep. Duncan Hunter by a few points in 2018, and started his 2020 effort the day after the election.
I can only assume the challenges of continuous campaigning have compromised the moral and political core of the really nice guy I met three years ago at a political rally. He is becoming what he claimed to oppose. Or not, depending on who he’s talking to.
In recent weeks, KPBS, Fox News, and NBC7 have all run stories about Democrats unhappy with Campa-Najjar’s decision to participate in a live interview with Defend East County founder Justin Haskins.
From the local Fox affiliate:
Video taken Oct. 7 reportedly shows Campa-Najjar and the founder of Defend East County sitting side-by-side without masks, smoking cigars and drinking whiskey. The group, which was started after a Black Lives Matter protest in La Mesa turned destructive, says on Facebook its purpose is “to come together and stand united to keep our city from being destroyed by rioting, looting and fires.” According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, videos of violence against Black Lives Matter protesters by “patriots” in other cities have received hundreds of likes on the page.
Defend East County is a quasi-vigilante group, originally organized on social media in response to a La Mesa protest that degenerated into violence. Persons claiming allegiance to the group have participated in harassing protesters they believe are affiliated with Black Lives Matter or Antifa.
This instagram video covers some of the controversy.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CGNbRf3jw08/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
While the East County group’s activities have mostly been provocative --in the sense that they are seeking to pick a fight,-- it’s hard to ignore the similarities and the overlapping sympathies of individuals with the right wing “militias” responsible for assorted hate crimes and criminal activity.
From NBC7:
“My vote’s still open, you guys think I’m going to vote for Biden—not necessarily. I still want to see how they perform at the debate,” said Campa-Najjar when asked if he supports President Donald Trump’s reelection or his Democratic challenger Former Vice President Joe Biden
“It was disappointing,” Chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party Will Rodriguez-Kennedy told NBC 7 in an interview. Rodriguez-Kennedy said while he did not agree with parts of what Campa-Najjar said, he was more troubled by the candidate appearing at all at this forum.
“It’s one thing to reach out to Republicans, Democrats do that. We reach out to non-party preference, we reach out to Republicans. But to reach out to white supremacists is the line that we draw in the sand,” said the Democratic chair.
The 50th Congressional District Democratic candidate has made an apology video, saying he wasn’t aware of the nature of his interviewer’s affiliations. He also told NBC7 that he recently cast his ballot and voted for former Vice President Joe Biden.
His justifications are along the lines of “sorry if I offended anybody” without dealing with the substance of things said while sitting shoulder to shoulder and smoking a cigar with Justin Hawkins.
He’s walked back or walked over past positions with increasing frequency in recent weeks, even down to the point of suggesting he’ll abandon the Democratic party if elected. The party’s congressional campaign arm has invested major resources of time and money in support of Campa-Najjar, designating him as part of their national Red-to-Blue efforts.
Despite being endorsed by Planned Parenthood, a fact not mentioned on his campaign website, Campa-Najjar is now unclear (at best!) about where he stands on their issues.
Via a KPBS story where he tried to walk back some of his comments:
Regarding the pending confirmation of Coney Barrett, which is controversial both for its timing right before the election and her views on abortion and the Affordable Care Act, Campa-Najjar reminded Haskins in their interview that U.S. senators, not members of Congress, vote to confirm Supreme Court justices.
However, he said, Coney Barrett “seems very qualified” and that if he were in the Senate he would likely vote to confirm her.
In his interview with KPBS, Campa-Najjar downplayed his comments, saying it was a completely hypothetical conversation and if he was a senator he would reserve judgment until he was able to question Coney Barrett directly. If she told him the [Affordable Care Act] was not constitutional, then he said he would not vote to confirm.
Haskins also asked Campa-Najjar multiple questions about whether he would investigate Clinton and Obama in relation to the investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign’s involvement with Russia. Trump has continuously said, without evidence, that both Clinton and Obama spied on his campaign in 2016. Trump’s accusations have become a rallying cry for his followers.
If you’re a 50th District voter, the choices on the ballot are yucky at best. The alternative to Campa-Najjar is former 49th District Congressman Darrell Issa, who in addition to carpetbagging his way into the race, is just about as despicable as a human being can be. And proud of it.
Issa also was interviewed by Haskins, and took positions easily interpreted as a “wink-wink” approval of the activities of far right militia and vigilante groups.
From the Union-Tribune story:
Appearing alongside the East County group’s founder, Justin Haskins, Issa seemed to promote citizen groups taking up arms to “defend their communities,” days after a thwarted plot by self-styled militia members to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and weeks after a counterprotester in Kenosha, Wis., shot and killed two people and wounded a third.
Campa-Najjar also appeared alongside Haskins in another Facebook video; both were maskless, smoking cigars and drinking whiskey. Campa-Najjar bluntly criticized the Green New Deal and Medicare For All proposals, sparking tension among area progressives.
I realize that running as a Democrat in a heavily Republican district presents many challenges, particularly when a candidate is of Mexican-Palestinian descent. Ammar Campa-Najjar has been thoroughly vilified by right wingers unashamed of their racism and lies.
I thought the newest generation of Democrats (who emerged from the Obama administration) were supposed to be running as good people with empathy and principles, as opposed to the lack of moral fiber on display by those supportive of the cult of Trump.
As much as I’ve opposed the knee-jerk response of some activists when it comes to making candidates toe the line on issues, I would argue that the Democratic candidate in this race has abandoned his principles.
History shows that spineless politicians end up being bought politicians, selling out to whomever can help them get re-elected. I don’t think it will get to that point with Campa-Najjar, since he’s bitten the hand that was feeding him.
There are plenty of voters in this district who will never vote for anybody with D next to their name and/or brown skin, and it’s foolish to think their votes can be won by pandering to them.
Early signs of voter enthusiasm indicate that the 2020 election is shaping up to be an even bigger blue wave than 2018. Unfortunately, it won’t be reaching the 50th Congressional District.
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