Arizona AG Candidate Continues to Support Trump, Conservative Ideals Abe Hamadeh, Republican nominee for Arizona attorney general: "The 2020 election was definitely rigged." (Getty Images)
By Charlie McCarthy | Wednesday, 07 September 2022 09:39 AM EDT
The Republican nominee for Arizona attorney general has refused to soften his conservative beliefs heading into the November election.
Abe Hamadeh, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has opted not to move toward the center as he opposes Democrat Kris Mayes.
Hamadeh continues to oppose abortion from "beginning at conception," according to the candidate's website. That's different than Republican U.S. Senate nominee Blake Masters, who attempted to moderate his position on the issue after the Aug. 2 primary.
A first-generation American, born of Syrian immigrants, and someone who serves in the Army as a reserve intelligence officer, Hamadeh recently told the Washington Examiner that Trump lost the 2020 election due to voter fraud in several key battleground states.
"The 2020 election was definitely rigged," Hamadeh told the Examiner during a pre-Labor Day interview. "We no longer have confidence in our electoral process, and I think it's damaging to our country."
After voting via military absentee in 2020 because he had been deployed overseas, Hamadeh returned home to Arizona and "had multiple mail-in ballots in my house from the 2020 election. That's what we're talking about — that there was rigging in that election," he told the Examiner.
He also said Facebook founder CEO Mark Zuckerberg suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story following FBI warnings of "Russian propaganda."
Hamadeh promised to "prosecute all election fraud and make sure that future elections are secure."
He also warned against "cancel culture," saying that "the radical Left has taken over every aspect of our lives."
"They [Democrats] are so prideful to raise the [Black Lives Matter] flag but not the American flag," Hamadeh told the Examiner.
Hamadeh, a 31-year-old prosecutor in Maricopa County, would become be the youngest to hold the office since President Bill Clinton was elected Arkansas attorney general in 1976.
"First-generation Americans view the world differently — we have an appreciation of America that's unlike others who are born here in the United States," Hamadeh said. "It helps guide my views."
In the swing state of Arizona, Hamadeh's campaign is stressing issues such as cracking down on rising crime and increasing border security.
"I no longer see what's going on at the border as an immigration issue; I see it as a state sovereignty issue," Hamadeh said. "When you have hundreds of thousands of people pouring across our southern border, it's incumbent upon Arizona to take matters into our own hands.
"We no longer can rely on the federal government as a partner. Ensuring that Arizona is safe and free is one of the first steps to save our country."
Mayes, a former GOP member, is a former Arizona Republic who covered late Sen. John McCain's 2000 presidential campaign. She later entered politics as a spokeswoman for then-Gov. Janet Napolitano, D-Ariz.