Ammar Campa-Najjar is smart and experienced in the Obama White House and Labor Dept. He's of Palestinian and Latino heritage and also has worked for a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Unfortunately his grandfather was accused of being a terrorist at the Munich Olympics. Though Campa-Najjar never knew his grandfather, Hunter's campaign ran racist ads accusing Campa-Najjar of being a sleeper cell terrorist, claiming his father was a terrorist, all totally untrue but it could have cost Campa-Najjar those precious few percentage points he needed.
There is also a lot of anti-Arabic/Middle Eastern and anti-Latino sentiment among many voters here, unfortunately, and it's not exactly a bastion of labor union supporters either.
There were other primary contenders who might have fared better including an ex-Navy Seal officer who serves on a rural school board and a woman who serves on the Farm Bureau (she's also an environmentalist, and protecting our environment is important to many people here), as well as a woman elected to the healthcare district board who could have ripped him apart on healthcare. The two women dropped out early so weren't on the ballot in June.
For an open seat, since there is no requirement to live in the district, you could even see a big-name Democrat from San Diego step in and run, maybe someone who has served in the Assembly, State Senator, or San Diego City Council. Heck, the Republicans are already talking about running a carpet-bagger who doesn't live in the district.
If Campa-Najjar does run again, he might get more money when his is the only election given how close he came, as opposed to donors at the national level being spread thin among many races, some of which were polling neck and neck much earlier on.
Difficult to win? Yes, but I no longer think it's impossible. I think the key is to run someone the rural voters can relate to, but that doesn't mean they have to be lily white. Just someone with some experience who will work to end rural poverty, help family farmers, protect open spaces, get us better fire protection, and still excite the urban core voters. This district really needs good-paying jobs; there aren't any in the inland area and unemployment is high. We don't have a hospital to served the inland region; some people have to drive an hour or two to the nearest hospital.
Ammar did a good job connecting with voters individually - he comes across as very sincere and caring, and did get some cross party votes--quite a lot of them apparently. So tough call on whether he should try again, or someone else. But it can only be won with a lot of money given the unusually vast geographic spread of this district, which spans two counties and includes mountains, rural and desert areas as well as portions of lots of different cities.
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