Abe Hamadeh Newsmax Town Hall Key Points, Highlights (Newsmax)
By Eric Mack | Saturday, 05 November 2022 11:45 AM EDT
Arizona GOP nominee for attorney general Abe Hamadeh is ready to back the Republican campaign vow to declare an invasion on the state's souther border, denouncing Democrats efforts to demonize the GOP on immigration.
"I think that we're in this new 1776 American revival and we're so proud to be Americans, but the left has made it so difficult," Hamadeh, running against Democrat Kristin Mayes, told Newsmax moderator John Bachman, host of "John Bachman Now," on Friday night in a town hall debate that aired exclusively on Newsmax. "I mean, they're so they're so ashamed to fly the American flag, but all of us right here in the audience we know what's at stake.
"I'm the son of Syrian immigrants. I have family from Venezuela. I see what socialism does. I see how quickly it can bring ruin to countries. Just look at California, for instance. How many of you remember California being actually peaceful, right?
"I mean [former President Ronald] Reagan was governor of California, remember that?"Hamadeh, seeking to replace GOP AG Mark Brnovich, continued. "It's changed so fast, so I'm excited because I know that there's an army of people who just support common-sense solutions.
"All we're saying is we need to secure the border, that criminals belong in jails, not on our streets."
On Declaring an Invasion of Arizona
"I see it as a state sovereignty issue," Hamadeh told Bachman. "Once you have 250,000 illegal immigrants crossing our border, bringing in fentanyl, bringing all the crime, it's a problem with the state level.
"Imagine for one moment, the federal government removing every single border patrol from south of our border, and they're going to say, you know, that Arizona has no ability to protect our own sovereignty. I don't think that's right.
"So I think when you declared an invasion – and Gov. Kari Lake, when she is elected, she's already said she would declare it an invasion on day one – and for me, I'm going to have to back that up and I will.
"But besides this, the invasion declaration, I've also said we have to classify the drug cartels as terrorist organizations."
Expanding State Department Definition on Terrorist Organization
"I'm saying that Arizona should have the ability to expand that definition to include the drug cartels south of our border," Hamadeh said.
"There's so many facets along the border. It's not just the illegal immigrants are just walking into the arms of law enforcement.
"We talk about solving the problem at the source, and all of this is coming from China. Remember, the Chinese Communist Party has been, they're poisoning us, because they're partnering with a drug cartels and then bringing it across our southern border, and it's affecting all of America, not just Arizona."
On Arizona Crises of Drugs, Mental Health, Homelessness
"I was a prosecutor: My jurisdiction was downtown Phoenix," Hamadeh said. "I saw a lot of homeless. I saw a lot of the mental illness, and a lot of that can be tied to the drug problem, and it's so sad to see that we've just accepted homelessness as a solution.
"I mean, there's nobody wants to tackle it. You look at California you know, it's so sad how once thriving cities like San Francisco, they have homeless defecating on the streets. This is unacceptable.
"And here in Arizona what I've been talking about is the mental health crisis. I was a prosecutor. I saw what happened. After they get picked up for a crime, they're deemed incompetent to stand trial, sent to the state hospital system, forcibly injected, and they're set back into the community with no resources.
"So that's the problem. Nobody wants to tackle this taboo subject. That's primarily going to be with the legislature and the governor to tackle it, but as attorney general, I want to have input on it as well from my experience."
On Democrat Candidate Mayes
"The reason why she doesn't know the laws is because she's never practiced law," Hamadeh said. "You know, it's quite amazing – it's not a dramatic statement to say. She's a professor of environmentalism. Before that she was a corporation commissioner, and then she was a journalist at The Arizona Republic, so she doesn't understand her role as attorney general.
"I've said I don't create the law. I enforce the law. Whatever the law is, the legislature and the governor pass and sign that's constitutional, I will enforce. And you know it's unfortunate to see her putting her personal beliefs into that office, because that's really dangerous when you become a somewhat super legislator.
"The voters are electing me for a specific purpose, and it's to uphold the rule of law, and that's exactly what I'll do as attorney general."
GOP Sen.-nominee Blake Masters on Hamadeh, GOP Ticket in Arizona
Masters is seeking to flip the seat of incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., as Republicans seek to retake control of the Senate.
Masters, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, mocked former President Barack Obama's attempt to campaign against the GOP candidates in Arizona as futile and weak.
"They almost filled up a high school gymnasium, by the way," Masters told Bachman. "When Trump comes to rally with me and Kari and Abe Hamadeh, the statewide team, and we have these rallies and wide open fields and it's just Arizonans as far as the eye can see.
"So props to the Democrats for almost filling up a high school gym."
Masters called for a straight GOP party-line vote down the ticket to enact change in one of the biggest battleground states in America.
"When voters look around, do they want more of what they've seen in the last 20 months? No, they want to vote for a change," Masters said. "And if you vote for me, if you vote for Kari Lake, Abe Hamadeh, well, you're going to get safe streets, good schools. You're going to get a secure border, and you're going to get a healthy economy where you can afford to actually raise a family again."
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