{"id":298123,"date":"2026-05-03T17:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T17:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/298123\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T17:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T17:19:09","slug":"a-dem-super-pac-is-spending-1-million-to-attack-me-and-split-the-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/298123\/","title":{"rendered":"A Dem super PAC is spending $1 million to attack me and split the vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"President<\/a>Ammar Campa-Najjar with President Obama. (File photo courtesy of the Campa-Najjar campaign)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a proud Palestinian-Mexican American. I love my country, even when it hasn\u2019t always reciprocated that love. That\u2019s why I joined the Navy, and it\u2019s why I\u2019m running for Congress.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A recent poll<\/a> released by ABC 10 and the San Diego Union-Tribune shows I\u2019m leading the Democratic field in CA-48<\/a> by double the vote share of other Democrats. But here\u2019s why Democrats should be concerned.<\/p>\n

\"Opinion<\/a><\/p>\n

That same poll shows Republicans Jim Desmond and Kevin O\u2019Neil at 25% and 13%, respectively. I\u2019m standing at 12%, just 2% away from advancing to the general election to flip this must-win seat. There are currently eight Democrats in this race. Voters need to unite or risk a Republican shutout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Outside spending is making that shutout more likely, not less.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A super PAC called Democratic Majority for Israel<\/a> endorsed my opponent Marni von Wilpert<\/a> and I\u2019m their first target in the country this year. They\u2019re spending over $1 million in attack ads across CA-48 against me. The reason is not complicated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I am the son of a Palestinian immigrant. Voters deserve to know that before reading anything else about this race.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The super PAC\u2019s attacks triggered a recent column suggesting I have \u201ca lot of explaining to do.\u201d So let me be direct about where I stand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Trump: I never voted for him. As the son of a Palestinian father and a Latina mother, my existence itself stands in radical opposition to a president who ran on banning Arabs and deporting Mexican immigrants. Like many Americans, when Trump was elected, I believed the best way to blunt his darkest impulses was by holding him to his word on ending forever wars, lowering costs and draining the swamp. But Trump governs for himself alone, and after the January 6 insurrection, it\u2019s clear he is unfit to serve. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m willing to reach across the aisle to cap prescription drug costs,\u00a0ban private equity from buying up homes and release the Epstein files \u2014 but we must stop his corruption. That is why I will introduce the No Kings Act and dismantle ICE, replacing it with an agency that will ethically do its job.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On abortion: I am pro-choice, full stop. I\u2019ll fight to make abortion access permanent law through a constitutional amendment. I\u2019ll also work to lower the cost of child care and the obscenely high maternal mortality rate in the United States, so more women can actually make the choice for themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On guns: I\u2019ve owned firearms, and serve as a U.S. Navy Reserve officer, where we have to pass background checks, undergo safe storage training and qualify before being issued a weapon. I\u2019ve seen and handled weapons of war, and can say with certainty they should never leave a military base. That\u2019s why I support\u00a0an assault weapons ban.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That record was built the same way I built this campaign. From the ground up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I grew up as a church janitor, worked my way through school, served in the Obama administration and joined the Navy. For nearly a decade, San Diegans have watched me show up, speak plainly and earn their trust the hard way, just like them. That growth is not weakness. It\u2019s an honest evolution that every undecided voter identifies with.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Corporations and outside interests are spending millions to handpick congressional nominees who will do their bidding. I believe elected officials should be policymakers, not profit makers who sell their votes to the highest bidder. That\u2019s why my campaign has never taken a corporate PAC dollar and never will. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m proud to have raised over $1 million from 43,000 individual donations this election, at an average of $24 at a time. The only reason that super PAC is spending money against me is because my father is Palestinian. But it won\u2019t deter me from demanding a peaceful end to the war in the Middle East.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Closer to home, the contrast is just as clear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I oppose this unauthorized foreign war, and the war waged by ICE on American streets. My opponent voted to enable ICE as a city councilmember, after mothers and neighbors pleaded for six hours in city hall. The councilmember and her super PAC have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars misleading voters by claiming to be a prosecutor after a judge ordered them to stop. There\u2019s a lot more that taxpayers haven\u2019t been told.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t just happening locally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s allies know this threatens them. It\u2019s why one of his top advisors, Laura Loomer, and a network of far-right MAGA activists have spent the past week targeting me with a coordinated smear campaign. And the super PAC is spending over a million dollars to do the same. The goal is to get a candidate who will be beholden to them. But I\u2019m only beholden to you.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This district is winnable. MAGA knows it. The super PAC knows it. That\u2019s why they\u2019re spending millions now, before a single vote is cast. The attacks don\u2019t weaken my case. They prove it. I\u2019m the only candidate they\u2019re afraid of. <\/p>\n

I am not going to let them decide this race. If you\u2019ll be my voice this election, I promise to be yours in Congress.<\/p>\n

Ammar Campa-Najjar<\/a> is a Democratic candidate for Congress in the 48th District, which is currently held by retiring Republican Rep. Darrell Issa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ammar Campa-Najjar with President Obama. (File photo courtesy of the Campa-Najjar campaign) I\u2019m a proud Palestinian-Mexican American. I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[43601,61593,1752,126341,989,76355,74,76,75,126342],"class_list":["post-298123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-ammar-campa-najjar","tag-ca-48","tag-congress","tag-democratic-majority-for-israel","tag-elections","tag-marni-von-wilpert","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-super-pac"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}