Ammar in the news

The son of a Mexican-American mom and Palestinian dad is trying to oust an incumbent in a reliably Republican district. Will Obama endorsement help?

Ammar Campa-Najjar will take on embattled GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter in inland San Diego County’s 50th Congressional District. Democrats have taken aim at Hunter’s district even though it’s unfriendly territory on paper: Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by 15 percentage points, and President Trump won here in 2016 with 55% of the vote.

Under President Obama, Ammar Campa-Najjar led the Labor Department’s Office of Public Affairs for the Employment & Training Administration. His responsibilities included helping develop the Obama-era plan to double the number of registered apprenticeships. Before Obama left office, he wrote a piece for NBC News urging Trump to continue that work. He’s currently running for Congress as a Democrat in California’s long-red 50th District.

Other Obama staffers running for office in California include Ammar Campa-Najjar, 28, who jumped into a San Diego congressional race this year. Obama’s 2008 victory was revelatory for Campa-Najjar, the son of a Mexican mother and a Palestinian father, who at the time was “a brooding, biracial kid” struggling to define his identity.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – The California Democratic Party’s Region 18 today endorsed Ammar Campa-Najjar for Congress in CA50 at its Pre-endorsement Conference. Campa-Najjar received 97% of the delegate vote in a four-way contest with candidate Josh Butner and potential candidates Patrick Malloy and Larry Tract.

An East County congressional candidate is calling for a lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis after a Tel Aviv newspaper published a story about his grandfather’s ties to a terrorist group. Ammar Campa-Najjar, 28, of Jamul, says he never met his grandfather, Muhammad Yusuf al-Najjar, who died in 1973.

A Democratic candidate challenging embattled Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter says his internal polling shows he is best positioned to take on the incumbent.

Two major national progressive groups have unveiled endorsements for Democratic challengers running in key House races in New York and California.

"While the debate on the outcome of this election rages on, one thing is abundantly clear: Millions of Americans still struggle with the idea of America. In many ways, America is still ahead of its time. And yet, our warm welcome to the world, engraved on the Statue of Liberty, still rings true for millions of families today: 'Bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.' That’s why I love this country..."

"Sitting on my old desk at the Department of Labor right now is a memo detailing a ready-made, low risk, high reward and bipartisan federal jobs program that bears a similar name to Trump’s television program. It’s called Registered Apprenticeship..."