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Hunter tries to link Democratic opponent to 'radical Islamists'

By JEREMY B. WHITE

Rep. Duncan Hunter‘s campaign insinuates in a new TV ad that his Democratic opponent is part of an attempt by Muslims to “infiltrate” the U.S. government.

The California Republican has maintained a comfortable polling lead in his reliably conservative San Diego district, despite being the subject of a federal indictment for allegedly misusing campaign funds.

But as Democratic groups have sensed vulnerability, Hunter‘s campaign has embraced a tactic that strikes critics as racist: invoking the fraught family history of Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, whose grandfather was involved in the terrorist attacks on the 1972 Munich Olympics.

While Campa-Najjar has forcefully renounced his grandfather, saying he died 16 years before the candidate was born and emphasizing that Campa-Najjar is a Christian who has passed government security clearances, the Hunter campaign is doubling down.

“Ammar Campa-Najjar is working to infiltrate Congress,” an ominous new campaign ad warns of Hunter’s Democratic opponent, invoking “his family’s ties to terrorism” and calling Campa-Najjar “a risk we can’t ignore,” before displaying an image of Hunter, a Marine veteran, in military gear.

In a talk with constituents before the ad dropped, Hunter warned repeatedly about “Islamists” seeking to make inroads into American civic life, and said Donald Trump’s proposed border wall was critical to keeping out “Palestinian” and “Pakistani” terrorists.

He directly linked the supposed threat to his opponent and told his audience “that is how hard, by the way, that the radical Muslims are trying to infiltrate the U.S. government.”

“You have more Islamists run for office this year at the federal level than ever before in U.S. history. You have radical Islamists propaganda being pushed on the kids in our San Diego school district,” Hunter said, adding that Islam is “not just a religion. That’s why we’re fighting them.”

Campa-Najjar’s camp has forcefully repudiated those claims, with a campaign spokesman saying Hunter was trying to foment fear by unfairly holding the Democrat responsible for the sins of an ancestor he never met.

“You know who is responsible for our actions is ourselves, and Duncan Hunter is the one under indictment and who has been stripped of his committee assignments,” spokesman Nick Singer told POLITICO. “This is a man who is unhinged and is willing to play on our darkest corners, on the racism that has plagued this country for many years.”

The Hunter campaign has repeatedly raised the fact that Campa-Najjar changed his name from his given name of Ammar Yasser Najjar, suggesting that the candidate was trying to conceal a dark past. Singer said the candidate was named “Yasser” because of an Arabic tradition of children taking their father‘s name as a middle name.

The campaign notes that while Campa-Najjar officially changed his name in June, he has been going by his current moniker for years. And as a former official in the Obama administration, Campa-Najjar had to pass multiple security clearances, Singer noted.

In the days since Hunter’s remarks were made public, the Campa-Najjar campaign has shared statements from the candidate’s pastor, veterans and national security experts blasting Hunter’s remarks.

“We stand firmly against the lies and the grossly un-American race-baiting employed by Mr. Hunter,” a group called Veterans for Ammar said. “These are the statements of a desperate man who has been criminally indicted and is sinking to deplorable depths in order to stay in office.”

A Hunter campaign spokesman did not respond to requests for comment, but the candidate has dismissed the notion that he could be racist.

“I was born in San Diego. Sorry Southerners, you had some issues back in the day,” Hunter told constituents. “Didn’t happen out here on the West Coast.”