A Nasty House Primary Gets Even Nastier Over Religion

The Arizona race between Blake Masters and Abe Hamadeh is mired in accusations of Islamophobia.

Abe Hamadeh

Abe Hamadeh, now running in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, identifies culturally as Druze and Muslim. Ross D. Franklin/AP

The personal and extraordinarily contentious Arizona congressional primary between Republicans Blake Masters and Abe Hamadeh has further devolved this week into anger over how Masters is using Hamadeh’s religion in the campaign.

An ad released Monday from a PAC backing Masters refers to Hamadeh as a “terrorist sympathizer.” Hamadeh identifies culturally as Druze and Muslim, and the ad, like road signs and other ads backing Masters, hinges on social media posts Hamadeh wrote as a teenager.

“Dishonest Abe claims that ‘America was founded on Islamic principles,’ not the Judeo-Christian values that made America great. We have enough terrorist sympathizers in Congress,” the ad says.