A Closer Look At the GQP’s ‘Big Lie’ Election Denier Abraham Hamadeh

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This MAGA/QAnon asshat is finally getting a spotlight shined on his unfitness for office, something that does not matter in a Republican primary.

We currently have the most corrupt attorney general in the history of the state of Arizona in Mark Brnovich aka “Nunchucks” (or is numbnuts?), and that’s saying something because Tom Horne was once attorney general.

Now there’s some young punk with little or no experience as a trial lawyer, certainly no experience at running a large law office like the Office of Attorney General, who comes along and says “Oh yeah? If you think Nunchucks was corrupt, just wait until you see what I will do!” That’s not a selling point, punk.

The Phoenix New Times got the ball rolling with this piece, Abe Hamadeh Wants to be Arizona’s Top Cop. As a Teen, He Bragged About Voter Fraud:

Abe Hamadeh has built his campaign for attorney general around cleaning up elections in Arizona [the Big Lie electon denier version]. Yet as a teenager, he boasted to an online message board about voting before he was legally allowed to and altering his mom’s ballot.

The posts were among thousands Hamadeh made to an online message board beginning in 2007. When he wasn’t bragging about altering ballots, he was offering antisemitic and sexist rants, backing Sheriff Joe Arpaio and arguing that voting should be limited to college graduates who pass intelligence tests.

As a candidate, Hamadeh smartly used money and the Big Lie — that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump — to sucker Trump into backing his campaign.

Of all Trump’s endorsements, championing the 31-year-old retired Army captain and one-time Maricopa County prosecutor was among his most surprising. Hamadeh was a low-level prosecutor for the county for less than three years even though his campaign website brags the he “fought in dozens of trials.”

Hamadeh’s upholding of the Big Lie led Trump to pluck him from a crowded field of Republicans during the primary, which ended in Hamadeh defeating former Tucson City Councilmember Rodney Glassman. Hamadeh faces Democrat Kris Mayes in November.

“Abe Hamadeh knows what happened in the 2020 election, and will enforce voting laws so that our elections are free and fair again,” Trump wrote in his June endorsement.

Hamadeh said so himself.

“As Attorney General, I will rebuild the confidence of our elections by prosecuting election fraud to the fullest extent of the law,” the political newcomer from Scottsdale said in a statement. “Confidence in our elections is the cornerstone to our country. We must restore [MAGA/QAnon Fepublican] voters’ trust.”

Online posts uncovered by Phoenix New Times dating back to the 2008 presidential election tell a very different story.

Voter Fraud or Teenage Rambling?

In June 2007, Hamadeh, then 16 years old, became an active member of the online message board Ron Paul Forums, a virtual gathering space for supporters of Ron Paul, a Libertarian, former member of Congress and three-time presidential candidate.

That explains a lot. There is nothing worse than a “Ron Paul Revolution” Libertarian. No wonder this guy has shit for brains.

The most recent archived version of Hamadeh’s profile on the site shows that by October 3, 2010, he had posted 4,163 times. His posts quoted in this story include their original typos, misspellings and grammatical errors.

Many of the posts are attached to discussions about radical ideas for election reform. They include Hamadeh’s own eugenics-reminiscent proposition that only college-educated Americans who passed intelligence tests should be allowed to vote by law, “not people who just go to a DMV and sign up to vote.”

Wait, isn’t MAGA/QAnon supposed to be all about anti-intellectualism and anti-elitism? “Us uneducated people are way smarter than those smartypants egghead professors in their ivory towers and those guvmit scientists like that Dr. Fauci, we have common sense! Hydroxychloroquine and horse paste Ivermectin works way better than those guvmit vaccines with microchips in them from Bill Gates that will turn you into lizard people!”

In a series of posts that started on October 5, 2008, the 17-year-old aspiring professional wrestler claimed that he altered and then cast his mother’s absentee ballot for Barack Obama, a then-U.S. senator who was running for president.

“Obama is getting all of this crap simply cause hes black, he has an Arab name, hes the only senator who is black in the Senate, he is successful, and he is a Harvard Law graduate, they’re scared they might have a smart man in the white house,” Hamadeh wrote. “Based on Barack Obama’s intelligence I casted my vote for him yesterday through absentee.”

In the same discussion thread, Hamadeh claimed that then-Republican presidential nominee John McCain, who lived in Phoenix, was a “radical fascist.”

I knew John McCain. We were never friendly, never liked the man personally. But I knew him well enough to know that John McCain was no “fascist.” This current crop of MAGA/QAnon Republicans running for office in this election – “Krazy Kari” Lake, Mark Finchem, and Abe Hamadeh, who would all have to certify Arizona’s election results, and a whole slew of legislative and congressional candidates and Blake Masters running for
U.S. Senate – now they meet the commonly understood definition of fascist. Hell, the Arizona Speaker of the House, Rusty Bowers, just called them out as fascists, and had this classic take:

Of the Republicans nominated for the state’s highest offices, Bowers said, “The suite of candidates that we now have representing what used to be a principled party is just like, wow … It’s like being the first colonizer on Jupiter.”

I think he probably meant the Star Wars Cantina bar scene.

In a subsequent post, Hamadeh wrote this: “No I cannot vote, I just submitted my mothers absentee ballot, she votes who I vote for, she voted for Ron Paul, and I’m saddened that I had to vote for Barack Obama, but it was the right thing I had to do.”

Under Arizona law, it’s a felony for a person to knowingly mark a ballot “with the intent to fix an election for that person’s own benefit or for that of another person” or to possess anyone’s early ballot other than your own. It’s also illegal for anyone younger than 18 to cast a ballot.

The username on the account that posted the comments is “Hamadeh.” The birthday listed on the account is Hamadeh’s birthday, May 15, 1991. The location listed on the profile was Scottsdale, where Hamadeh lived, and the hometown listed on the profile was Chicago, Hamadeh’s place of birth. A post in January 2008 also indicated the use of an email address from which Hamadeh sent a November 2007 email to then-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. The author of that email included a Phoenix phone number that is also associated with Hamadeh.

Hamadeh’s campaign didn’t directly address whether or not he wrote the posts or committed voter fraud. Instead, in a statement to New Times, a campaign spokesperson said Hamadeh’s digital footprint dates to a time when teenagers made comments “well before their minds were even fully developed.”

His campaign rhetoric is clear evidence that his mind “has not yet fully developed” even at the age of 31.

“Abe Hamadeh is the youngest statewide candidate in the country [“I lack experience and wisdom“], and one of the first to be scrutinized on his digital footprint dating back to a time when he was 16 years old, the same time he thought he would grow up to become a wrestler in the WWE,” said Erica Knight, a spokesperson for the Hamadeh campaign.

Damn, the Ron Paul Revolution and WWE wrestling? This guy was a real loser.

“We are entering a new era of political opposition where candidates who have lived through their adolescent years on the internet are being judged and criticized based on comments they made well before their minds were even fully developed. It is now our responsibility to be careful where we draw the line,” Knight added.

Brett Johnson, an election law specialist and partner at Phoenix-based Snell & Wilmer, said Hamadeh’s post could have been the admission of a felony.

“There are issues here,” Johnson told New Times. “It could or could not be a felony. In this case, you can prove the criminal act, but can you prove the intent?”

Dude, you can’t prove anything without the ballot and its mail-in ballot envelope with the voter’s signature, which are long gone, so why are we speculating?

The actions Hamadeh discussed in the years-old posts fall outside the state’s statute of limitations, which is seven years for charges of voter fraud. Hamadeh’s posts, though, still raise eyebrows for a candidate whose campaign centers on restoring sanctity in Arizona’s elections.

Hamadeh’s campaign insists he’s learned his lesson over the last 14 years.

“We have all had life experiences where we, as individuals, have learned, grown and evolved into the people we are today,” Knight said. “Abe grew up, joined the military and became a great and highly accomplished patriot. Time in service changed, matured and, most importantly, provided Abe with the values he currently has and the deep love he has for his country.”

Mayes, Hamadeh’s opponent in the November election, criticized his record.

“Abraham Hamadeh has a track record of dishonesty and deceit,” Mayes told New Times. “We see it in his interviews, his daily tweets and his public appearances. The Attorney General’s Office requires honesty and integrity at its core, which Mr. Hamadeh does not possess.”

Antisemitism, Sexism and ‘Dumb People’

Hamadeh was born and raised in Chicago by parents from Syria and Lebanon.

In 1994, a grand jury in Illinois indicted his father, jeweler Jamal Hamadah, on charges of conspiracy to commit arson after the Mikro Kodesh Anshe Tiktin synagogue was fire-bombed, according to the Chicago Reader. When he was arrested, Hamadah admitted to being in the U.S. illegally after overstaying a visitor’s visa.

The Arizona Republic has this article behind a pay wall, putting profit over informing the electorate.

The charges were dropped after the two men who set the fire failed to cooperate with prosecutors and testify against Hamadah. At a later deportation hearing, the judge allowed him to stay stateside because his son, Abe, is a U.S. citizen.

If this guy was running as a Democrat, I can guarantee you that Republicans would be running ads against him calling him a Muslim terrorist anchor baby. Republicans did that kind of shit all through the 2000’s when George “W” and Dick Cheney were in charge.

In 2008, Abe Hamadeh advocated for cutting U.S. funding to Israel and indicated fervent opposition to Israel as a state in several of his posts on the Ron Paul Forum.

“If you think Jews arent big in america (2%) how come 56% of them are CEO’S … Jews are influential and for the most part rich. its good were targetting Arabs now, next will target Jews,” he posted in July 2007.

These days, Hamadeh vows to use the power of the attorney general’s office to uphold Arizona’s draconian abortion bans. In December 2007, Hamadeh venerated a commenter on the Ron Paul Forum who was met with downturned thumbs during a protest outside an abortion clinic in Orlando, Florida. “Women always thumb down, they all complain about there right to choose to have an abortion,” he wrote in the post.

This will get you in thick with the ladies.

In 2009, in response to a post in which the author indicated that conservative commentator Ann Coulter had endorsed Ron Paul’s presidential bid, Hamadeh wrote, “She is a BITCH, I don’t give a $#@! if she votes for Ron Paul, but she better not be speaking at any, ANY rallies.”

Later that year, he defended former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt in federal court in 2017 and cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars settling lawsuits stemming from decades of egregious human and civil rights violations.

“Sheriff Joe Arpaio is probably one of the most honest people to have served this State,” Hamadeh wrote.

Are we talking about the same Joe Arpaio? Are you confusing him with someome else?

He added that “people are to dumb to make decissions on there own, they need the government to help guide them.”

Ooh, more of that “New Right” 1984 Big Brother shit that Peter Thiel puppet Blake Masters espouses: “The Cyber geniuses of Silicon valley should rule the world!”

Now, he’s gunning to become that guiding light.

Hamadeh’s campaign said the posts don’t reflect his present-day views.

“Comments allegedly posted during his teenage years do not represent his current values and views,” Knight said. “I encourage the opposition to stop wasting time picking apart the actions of children and focusing on nonsense and start taking action to make sure the American dream still exists for the next generation.”

Dude, you were deep up Ron Paul’s ass, you suffered permanent brain damage in your youth that affects your thinking today. That’s why you are now a MAGA/QAnon cultist deep up Donald Trump’s ass.

Laurie Roberts at The Republic responds to this little whiner’s “I was just a teenager, leave me alone!” Abe Hamadeh once bragged of committing voter fraud. But that’s not why he’s unfit to be AG:

You should not take a pass on voting for Abe Hamadeh because of his prior boast that he committed voter fraud to help Barack Obama become president.

You shouldn’t consider whether a guy who once proposed that only college graduates who can pass intelligence tests should be allowed vote – “not people who just go to a DMV and sign up to vote”, according to a report by the Phoenix New Times’ Elias Weiss.

Or whether his past antisemitic rants make him a questionable choice to be Arizona’s next attorney general.

He was 17, after all, and kids do and say dumb things.

But you absolutely should consider the things he says and does now that he’s 31.

These days, Hamadeh sounds more like a toddler than a teen – or a fully grown adult.

It’s up to voters to decide whether he’s qualified [He’s Not]

Hamadeh is running for one the state’s most important jobs, having snookered Donald Trump into endorsing him with a deft sleight of hand that made it appear as if he’d raised a million dollars for his campaign.

He graduated from law school in 2016 and spent several years as a low-level prosecutor in the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office while also serving 18 months overseas in the Army Reserve. Serial speeders have likely spent more time in court than this guy.

Ahahahaha! That’s a funny lawyer joke.

Still, enough [MAGA/QAnon] Republican voters evidently valued Hamadeh’s vast experience [that’s sarcasm folks] enough to elevate him over the rest of the GOP field, which included experienced prosecutors, veteran attorneys and even a former state Supreme Court justice.

Now it is up to Arizona voters to determine whether Hamadeh is the right person to become Arizona’s top prosecutor – to protect consumers from fraud, go after white collar and organized criminals, root out public corruption and enforce the state’s environmental laws and civil rights laws.

Don’t think about the ravings of 17-year-old Hamadeh. Consider the tantrums of 31-year-old Hamadeh. Whether he possesses the experience, emotional maturity and intellectual honesty needed to ascend to the No. 3 job in the state.

Hamadeh’s response to the story is telling

Consider his response to Tuesday’s New Times story about his youthful writings – a story that also pointed out that his father, a man once accused of conspiring to fire-bomb a synagogue, was here illegally. The elder Hamadeh was allowed to remain in the country because his son, Abe, is a U.S. citizen.

“The media hates minority Republicans,” the younger Hamadeh tweeted late on Tuesday, several hours after the story broke.

No, Republicans hate minorities. What rock has this guy been under all his life?

One might think that an emotionally mature candidate for an important public office would have offered a more reasoned lawyer-like response, perhaps explaining how the son of an illegal immigrant now vows to arrest immigrants who are here illegally. Or how his views have changed as he has (supposedly) grown to maturity.

His Kris Mayes tweets are even more revealing

Consider the things Hamadeh says about his Democratic opponent, Kris Mayes, a former Arizona Corporation Commissioner who now is a professor at ASU’s School of Global Sustainability and Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.

You know, one of those smartypants egghead professors in their ivory towers.

“Professor Kris Mayes wants to force masks and vaccines on us. I will keep Arizona SAFE and FREE!,” Hamadeh tweeted on Tuesday, linking to a December tweet in which a masked Mayes urged people to schedule a COVID-19 booster shot.

“Kris Mayes is a crook. Insider trading, higher utilities, eliminate cash-bail, she’s a HYPOCRITE.”

“Kris Mayes will BANKRUPT Arizona businesses and bury them in lawsuits. And then she’ll bankrupt all of us once she imposes her Green New Deal on us.”

“Kris Mayes is a former journalist. It’s why the propaganda arm of the Democrat Party (the media) protect her. She’s one of them. Kris Mayes is CORRUPT.”

“Kris Mayes was out marching during the 2020 summer riots with the BLM movement. She hates the police. It’s why she gladly accepted Planned Parenthood’s endorsement who has called to defund them and vowed not to support any candidate who doesn’t subscribe to their views. Shameful”

“Kris Mayes is a radical leftist professor who will shove her woke agenda down our throats.”

Kris Mayes is corrupt. She’s loud, angry, and radical. She wants to appoint a climate change CZAR on day 1. She wants to ELIMINATE cash-bail. She wants to DEFUND the police. She wants to BANKRUPT business. The media loves her because she was a journalist. They are FAKE NEWS.”

All that, just in the last 24 hours.

This guy tweets like his “Dear Leader” at 1:00 a.m., before he got kicked off of Twitter on January 6, 2021, for inciting an insurrection against the U.S government.

He called someone a crook without evidence

Imagine an attorney general running around declaring someone a crook and corrupt despite a complete and total lack of evidence that it is so. Or boldly stating that she wants to ELIMINATE bail and DEFUND the police and BANKRUPT business.

Hamadeh is correct that Mayes was a journalist before going to law school. She worked for the Phoenix Gazette and later The Arizona Republic. She covered Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign in 2000 – back when Hamadeh was 9 years old.

He’s being, well, I’ll just call it disingenuous when he continues to paint her an opponent to law enforcement, ignoring her repeated statements that she supports the police.

Consider, too, that Hamadeh believes the 2020 election was stolen, despite any evidence of widespread fraud.

Consider that he says he would not have certified the 2020 election, prepared apparently to violate the state law that would have required the attorney general to do so.

Consider that within an hour of learning earlier this month that the FBI was searching Mar-a-Lago – a seach for classified documents that was approved by a federal magistrate judge – Hamadeh went absolutely beserk.

“Our justice system has been HIJACKED,” he tweeted. “Our FBI has been CORRUPTED. It’s time to restore LAW & ORDER.”

Impunity and unaccountabilty for “Dear Leader” is not restoring law & order, it is the exact opposite of that.

An AG should operate on facts and the law

This, from an officer of the court – a candidate who wants a job that requires him to be governed not by crazy conspiracy theories or the jerk of his well-oiled knee but by facts and by the law.

There’s a reason that Attorney General Mark Brnovich didn’t win Trump’s approval and thus the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. It’s because, when it counted – when Republicans all around him were pouring on the pressure for arrests and perp walks of elections officials – he was governed by facts and by the law.

Oh, please. “Nunchucks” made a complete fool of himself trying to get Trump’s endorsement, by spinning the Arizona Senate’s GQP sham “fraudit,” and by bringing a number of politically motivated, as opposed to legally justified, lawsuits based upon the GQP’s culture wars. Now who is departing from the facts and the law?

You should not pass on voting for Abe Hamadeh because he once bragged about falsifying his mother’s early ballot to help Barack Obama. (“No, I cannot vote,” he wrote in a 2008 post. “I just submitted my mothers absentee ballot, she votes who I vote for, she voted for Ron Paul, and I’m saddened that I had to vote for Barack Obama, but it was the right thing I had to do.”)

Or because, at age 16, he called for targeting Jews. (“If you think Jews arent big in america (2%) how come 56% of them are CEO’S … Jews are influential and for the most part rich. its good were targetting Arabs now, next will target Jews.”)

It’s today’s temper tantrums and foot stomping fits of pique that should give you pause to wonder whether this clearly very young man is prepared to be Arizona’s attorney general.

NO, he is not. It’s a no-brainer.





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