Trump-endorsed candidate spurns normal election pivot in Arizona AG race

Abe Hamadeh has eschewed the middle and caught to the Proper since successful the Republican nomination in his bid to be elected Arizona lawyer normal, a essential publish in a key swing state.

Whereas Blake Masters, the Republican nominee for Senate in Arizona, tried to reasonable his place on abortion after the Aug. 2 main, the 31-year-old Hamadeh nonetheless vows, in line with his marketing campaign web site, to oppose the process “starting at conception.” And in an interview with the Washington Examiner simply earlier than Labor Day, Hamadeh, endorsed by Donald Trump, declined to downplay the previous president’s unsupported claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

“The 2020 election was undoubtedly rigged,” Hamadeh mentioned. “We not trust in our electoral course of, and I feel it’s damaging to our nation.” Hamadeh referred to Fb founder Mark Zuckerberg saying the social media large suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop computer story following FBI warnings of "Russian propaganda," plus a federal choose’s extension of voter registration in Arizona in 2020, a choice later overruled by the liberal ninth U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals.

“I've a private story,” Hamadeh added. He voted navy absentee in 2020 as a result of he was deployed abroad as part of his service within the Military Reserve. But when Hamadeh returned dwelling to Arizona, he defined, “I had a number of mail-in ballots in my home from the 2020 election. That’s what we’re speaking about — that there was rigging in that election.”

Whereas some cases of fraud had been found in 2020, none uncovered rose to the extent such that it may need altered the result of the election.

Hamadeh is operating in opposition to Kris Mayes, a Democrat with a formidable, albeit typical, resume. Mayes is a former Arizona Republic reporter (and former Republican) who coated Sen. John McCain’s 2000 marketing campaign for the GOP presidential nomination for the newspaper and later entered politics as a spokeswoman for then-Gov. Janet Napolitano (D). Afterward, Mayes served seven years on the Arizona Company Fee and has since labored as a regulation professor.

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Hamadeh’s story is compelling. He's a first-generation American born of Syrian immigrants who serves within the Military as a reserve intelligence officer and, in that capability, was just lately stationed in Saudi Arabia. Hamadeh is a prosecutor in Maricopa County, Arizona’s key battleground, and if elected state lawyer normal this fall, he would be the youngest to carry the workplace since President Invoice Clinton was elected Arkansas lawyer normal in 1976.

“First-generation People view the world in another way — we've got an appreciation of America that’s in contrast to others who're born right here in america,” Hamadeh mentioned. “It helps information my views.”

As soon as obscure, contests for down-ballot state constitutional workplaces, similar to lawyer normal and secretary of state, have taken on increased profiles within the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. After Trump refused to concede to now-President Joe Biden, he pressured Republicans in states like Arizona to overturn his defeat. As part of these efforts, Trump requested GOP attorneys normal to prosecute election fraud regardless of a scarcity of proof.

In Arizona, the place Joe Biden bested Trump by a mere 10,457 votes, the previous president’s rhetoric and actions surrounding the final election have solid a highlight on Hamadeh’s normal election battle with Mayes. If the Republican presidential nominee loses one other shut election in Arizona in 2024, the slate of Trump-endorsed candidates main the state’s GOP ticket this fall, together with Hamadeh and gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, can be positioned to aim to overturn the outcomes.

Two years in the past, Trump made such requests of outgoing Gov. Doug Ducey and different prime Arizona Republicans. They refused.

Hamadeh continues to embrace Trump and guarantees to “prosecute all election fraud and guarantee that future elections are safe.” He warns in opposition to “cancel tradition,” lamenting that “the novel Left has taken over each facet of our lives,” and says of Democrats: “They're so prideful to boost the [Black Lives Matter] flag however not the American flag.” It’s not laborious to see why Trump, and grassroots Republicans, discover Hamadeh interesting.

However Hamadeh goes to wish greater than Republican voters to win in November.

To that finish, his marketing campaign is essentially about points that might resonate with Arizona voters, similar to cracking down on rising crime and growing border safety. Each fall throughout the purview of the state lawyer normal and constantly rank amongst voters’ prime 5 priorities, behind taming skyrocketing inflation and enhancing the economic system.

“I not see what’s happening on the border as an immigration concern; I see it as a state sovereignty concern. When you've got a whole lot of 1000's of individuals pouring throughout our southern border, it’s incumbent upon Arizona to take issues into our personal arms,” Hamadeh mentioned. “We not can depend on the federal authorities as a accomplice. Guaranteeing that Arizona is protected and free is among the first steps to avoid wasting our nation.”

Hamadeh praised Ducey for ending segments of the border wall with delivery containers and different materials. He mentioned extra must be executed. If elected, he would search to categorise international drug cartels as terrorist organizations, which might broaden the vary of choices he must combat crime because the state’s prime prosecutor. (Hamadeh mentioned that beneath present Arizona regulation, the state adopts no matter designation is rendered by the State Division.)

In the meantime, Hamadeh signaled he would use the workplace of lawyer normal to dam any try and shut down companies, church buildings, and colleges in response to a lethal pandemic. And Hamadeh is ready to be an energetic litigator within the federal courts pushing again in opposition to the Biden administration's government actions. Given the president’s low job approval rankings, that plank of Hamadeh’s marketing campaign is unlikely to be acquired negatively by Arizona voters.

“In Arizona, with Blake Masters, Kari Lake, myself, I feel we’re going to be a beacon of hope and a mannequin for the remainder of the nation as soon as we've got good governance proper right here in Arizona,” Hamadeh mentioned. “It’s going to be a great 12 months for us. When you’re crime and the border, these are points that the Republicans are proudly owning due to the mess that the Democrats have induced us.”