4 Republican congressional contenders clash in debate over who is more loyal to Trump

The four Republicans looking to oust Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton rhetorically pummeled each other Wednesday in a bid to claim the greatest loyalty to former President Donald Trump and pursue other hardline policies.

By turns and with little evident differences, they called for a sealed border with Mexico, imposing no conditions on Israel’s war with Hamas and a crackdown on those charged with violent crime in America.

But they turned on each other when the question turned to Trump.

Kelly Cooper, a businessman and retired Marine who lost to Stanton, D-Ariz., in 2022, reminded those watching that he had Trump’s endorsement two years ago. It caused former football player Jerone Davison, a pastor who repeatedly noted he was “at Jan. 6,” to mutter disgustedly, “Oh, God.”

Cooper also disputed the Trump loyalty of Zuhdi Jasser, a medical doctor and political newcomer who said he backed Trump.

“There’s a lot of talk about how all the candidates on this stage are loyal to Donald Trump, including Dr. Jasser down there who quit being a national delegate in 2016 because he couldn’t vote for Trump," Cooper said. "He couldn’t bring himself to do it, and also wrote op-eds about how he was unfit to be president, along with being a globalist that was encouraging more Syrian refugees at the time."

Jasser interjected a cutting attack on Cooper, who became a Republican ahead of his first run for Congress. “That was when you were getting Green Party ballots? The radical socialist party?” Jasser said.

For his part, Davison pointedly returned to the topic in his closing statement, which he cast as a warning.

“America, we have been had so many times, and I know that you’re tired of it. We send people to Washington, and they get there, and they stab us in the back,” he said.

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“You have a proven fighter in me. You saw that I was at Jan. 6. You saw that I was a Trumper from the beginning. I believe the doctor is not safe for this country. … I believe he’s going to turn his back on Trump based on his past.”

Dave Giles, a perennial congressional candidate since 2016, spoke haltingly throughout the debate. He reminded viewers more than once that he supported Trump since he came down the golden escalators, in a reference to Trump's 2015 presidential race debut in Trump Tower.

Jasser, who is Muslim and the son of Syrian refugees, repeatedly noted the threat to America of “radical Islam,” a force he said he has opposed even as it made him a target of al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Cooper cast himself as a businessman who understands the economic needs of working Americans.

The Republicans are running for the right to challenge Stanton, who has won three terms and has a commanding cash advantage over the field in a race for the Tempe-based seat that is not expected to be competitive.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Jasser, a former Navy doctor, formed the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, a group founded on “the separation of mosque and state” that defended counter-terrorism policies disproportionately targeting the Muslim community.

He was easily the best-funded candidate for the Republicans entering April, raising about $428,000 to that point.

Cooper is a Marine Corps veteran who has worked his way up in the restaurant industry. He now works as the chief of financial operations for his business, which he says includes four restaurants.

His campaign had raised $359,000 through March, but $50,000 of that is a loan from Cooper and the campaign also had $661,000 in debt as well.

Davison has reminded voters he is a former Arizona State Sun Devil who briefly played in the NFL. He ran and lost his bid for the GOP nomination to Cooper in 2022. Davison, who is Black, got some attention after he ran a provocative ad suggesting an AR-15 rifle would be needed to defend his family from “a dozen angry Democrats in Klan hoods.”

His campaign has struggled to raise money, pulling in $32,000 through March.

Giles is a self-funded candidate and for decades worked in Saudi Arabia for the oil company Saudi Aramco.

Stanton’s campaign had $933,000 in cash entering April.

The Republican primary is on July 30.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 4 contenders clash in Republican Arizona primary CD4 debate