Congressional candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar was the featured guest during a town hall meeting at the Alpine Community Center Aug. 18.
Anne Craig-Tillmond, an Alpine resident and Campa-Najjar supporter, organized the event to demonstrate how Campa-Najjar would reach out to constituents on a local level if elected in next year’s election against incumbent Duncan Hunter who represents the 50th district.
Craig-Tillmond told the standing-room-only gathering that the 30-year-old candidate would answer 10 questions that had been submitted by people who had registered for the event and then field questions from the rest of the audience.
Recognizing that a wide political spectrum was represented in the audience Campa-Najjar reassured everyone that he would likely anger Republicans and Democrats alike.
Campa-Najjar, who has never held elected political office, ticked off his job experience in the political realm— Deputy Regional Field Director for Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, Communications and Marketing Director for the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and Public Affairs Officer for the U.S. Department of Labor. He also emphasized two points in his introduction that he would come back to throughout the afternoon.
He said he believes in position over party and that he refuses to accept PAC money while he relies solely on personal donations for his campaign so that he is not beholden to special interest groups.
Campa-Najjar addressed the issue of housing affordability by stating that San Diego has the fourth largest homeless population in the country and that California is the fifth largest economy in the world, yet San Diego is 20th in HUD (Housing and Urban Development) funding.
On gun legislation the lone Democrat in a crowded field of hopefuls who want to unseat Hunter, who was indicted last year for misuse of campaign funds, Campa-Najjar pointed to a policy employed by the country’s military.
“If you are going to swear to protect and defend the constitution, you cannot do that and disregard the second amendment… but here’s the thing that we can do… I like what the military does… Before you get a gun, you do a background check, you get a (psychiatric) evaluation, you go through training, and you get safe storage,” Campa-Najjar said.
Prior to the event one attendee, Daniel Weise, said that he has been an east county resident since 1976 and is concerned that Hunter relies on his family name for reelection; he was interested in hearing what Campa-Najjar would say about education at the meeting.
“Hunter is a flag waver. I was in the Marine Corps and I’m a retired teacher, and I’m concerned. It’s sad for me to watch the decline of diversity, especially for our youth,” Weise said.
Campa-Najjar said he believes students in special education programs are overlooked and went on to say that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is not currently fully funded by Congress.
“A lot of the problems that we have in this country— half of it is not enforcing the laws that we already have,” Campa-Najjar said.
Campa-Najjar ran against Hunter in 2017 and lost.
