Congressional District 4 Republicans square off in debate

By Mark Carlisle
Mail | X: @mwcarlisle

Four candidates vying for the Republican nomination for Arizona’s fourth Congressional District squared off in a debate Wednesday night.

Topics centered on improving the economy they say was badly damaged by President Joe Biden, border security and immigration, housing, foreign affairs and fealty to former Republican Donald Trump.

The candidates are Kelly Cooper, a restaurant owner and marine veteran; Dave Giles, a retired economics engineer and business consultant with a doctor of ministry degree; Jerone Davison, an associate pastor at House of Judah Church in Phoenix, author, public speaker and former Arizona State and NFL football player; and Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a Navy veteran, primary care physician in Phoenix who has served on the U.S. Senate Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Three of the four candidates ran in 2022. Cooper won that primary with 28.4% of the vote in a five-person race, Giles was third with 18.7% and Davison was last with 13.3%. Jasser is the newcomer to the race. Giles won a 2020 Republican nomination for Congressional District 9, representing a similar area before Arizona’s redistricting in 2022.

Cooper and Giles both lost their races to Democratic incumbent Rep. Greg Stanton, who has represented the area since the 2018 election. The Republican nominee will again face Stanton in the general, as he is the only Democrat on the ballot. They will compete to represent a district that includes Ahwatukee, Tempe and portions of Mesa and Chandler.

Electability

Cooper, Jasser and Davison all highlighted being persuasive communicators among their strengths for the position. Jasser said Republican nominee needs to have the ability to articulate the priorities of the district and make the case to the American people. Jasser said he “can be the antidote to the Rashida Tlaibs and Ilhan Omars of Congress.”

Jasser said Cooper hasn’t changed much of his campaign from 2022 when he lost to Stanton and will lose again.

Giles highlighted that he is retired and his time and energy won’t be pulled in multiple directions.

“I’m retired and I can devote 100% of my time to representing the people of Arizona,” Giles said.

Davison said he has a campaign on kitchen-table issues that appeals to Republicans, Democrats and independents. He pointed to his work as a pastor as evidence he has appeal across the aisle.

“I’m a pastor, I have a church full of Democrats, and they love my preaching, brother,” Davison said. “They love it. And they love my church, and they love my campaign.”

Cooper also said he had a kitchen-table issues campaign. He took jabs at the other candidates, saying Jasser has flip-flopped on Trump in the past.

“Dave Giles really can’t formulate a consistent thought, and I think you see that on the debate stage all the time,” Cooper said. “He has trouble connecting with the voters in the district. He’s a good man, he’s well meaning, but you want people that can go there and articulate a position and help lead people in Congress to the right views.”

Cooper said Davison was too extreme for the district and pointed to a claim Davison made in 2022, when he said on Instagram that he had reason to believe an illness that took him off the campaign trail was the FBI poising him.

“I mean, we can spend all day talking about Jerone and his antics and the entertainment value,” Cooper said. “But the truth saying you were poisoned by the FBI or that you were at Jan. 6 are almost immediate disqualifiers in a swing district. You need to be able to talk to the moms and the dads in the suburbs in this district. And the kitchen table issues are what they care about.”

On Wednesday, Davison said his illness that caused a six-day hospitalization because his kidneys shut down was “a suspected intentional poisoning.” However, now he said he does not know who was behind it.

Davison said he believes it was biotoxic poisoning but doesn’t know how the poison might have been administered to him.

“I don’t know,” Davison said. “I asked the doctor that several times. He said it’s probably something you drank or something you ate.”

Economy

The general consensus among candidates was the government can repair the economy by getting out of the way. They all supported tax cuts, with some calling for a flat tax — as opposed to a progressive tax which tax at a higher rate beyond certain income thresholds. Cooper called for a 20% tax cut to small business owners.

The candidates also generally supported less regulation, particularly for energy. Giles repeatedly called for the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Davison said the U.S. should “drill, frack and burn coal.”

Despite the area having a history of electing Democrats to Congress, Giles told Independent Media he believes the tide is shifting and people in the district are ready for a change. He pointed to grocery and gas prices as reasons voters were fed up with Democrats. He acknowledged those prices were also coming off increased when he lost to Stanton in 2022 but said it was worse now. Valley residents today aren’t coming off COVID surplus cash the way they were last cycle and that people now have record credit card debt.

Giles told Independent Newsmedia one way he wants to shrink the federal government is to phase out departments like the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Internal Revenue Service. He pointed to the 10th Amendment, saying any powers not delegated to the federal government in the Constitution should be returned to the states. Those services should be phased away from the federal government and control given to the states, he said.

“There’s a lot of other things in there we need to stop funding,” beyond those three agencies, Giles said.

Housing

On the issue of affordable housing, Jasser said he had spoken to many clients lined up to buy a house only to have a private equity firm or foreign investor buy it out from under them with cash. He and Davison each said they would call for it to be illegal for people living outside the U.S. to buy residential property without specific permission.

Cooper and Giles did not support that restriction but said housing affordability would be helped by an improved economy. Giles said income and property taxes needed to be cut to make housing more affordable. Cooper said the federal government should let states handle housing and focus on energy independence, which would put more money in potential home-buyers’ pockets.

Immigration

Several candidates highlighted a need for immigration reform as a means to boost the economy as well as for border security.

Across the board, candidates called for any undocumented immigrants in the country to be deported. Davison went further and said immigrants brought here illegally as children by their parents should also be deported. He said even if the children did not commit the crime, they were in the country illegally

“Don’t look at me as a heartless person. I totally love people. I do,” Davison told Independent Newsmedia. “When are we ever going to get back to being a nation of laws? Doesn’t mean we’re not a nation of sympathy. Doesn’t mean we don’t care. It just means that we have to take care of America first.

“…Would you take care of their mouth for another person? Even though you care for them? We are being really strangled right now.”

Cooper said something similar on the debate stage.

“You asked about the children, and my answer is, ‘What about our children?’” Cooper said during the debate.

Cooper referenced that those immigrant children were looking for a better life in America.

“But my children are looking for a better life. Your children are looking for a better life. The children of this district our looking for a better life, and I don’t think we can go past that.”

Davison and Giles both called for completion of Trump’s pledged border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. All candidates lambasted Biden’s approach to immigration. Davison said he should be impeached over it.

All candidates said there should be a path for legal immigration and asylum leading to citizenship. Jasser said his parents immigrated the right way, requesting asylum to escape a dictatorship in Syria and waiting in Syria until their asylum was granted.

Speaking about pro-Palestine protests on college campuses, Jasser said any foreign students here on a visa should be deported for violating material support of terror laws.

Foreign affairs

Jasser, Giles and Davison all backed U.S. support and funding of Israel in its war against Hamas despite international bodies like the International Criminal Court and Amnesty International saying there is evidence that Israeli officials have committed war crimes because of attacks on Palestinian civilians.

Cooper said Israel should be responsible for defending itself and the U.S. needs to stop sending it’s “blood and treasure” overseas. However, he said isolationism is not an answer. He said the U.S. should use its influence to make “regional powers” responsible for maintaining peace in their region.

Davison called for the U.S. to stop funding Ukraine in its war against Russia, saying Israel is an ally of the U.S. but Ukraine is not.

Donald Trump

Debate candidates were asked about their fealty to Donald Trump. The question was posed the day before Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts by a New York jury.

Davison said he was a “100% Trumper” and highlighted that he was the only candidate supporting Trump in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021. (He has noted in the past he did not enter the Capitol building or engage in any violence on that day.)

Giles said he will support Trump as long as he upholds the U.S. Constitution, which he feels Trump has done and will continue to do.

Cooper quibbled a bit over the word “fealty” saying his fealty is to the voters and the Republican Party but said he would support Trump as long as he is the party’s nominee and said he supports Trump’s values.

Cooper pointed out that Jasser reportedly resigned as one of Arizona’s electoral college delegates in 2016 rather than cast a vote for Trump. Jasser said he is a supporter of Trump and that America was better under Trump. He noted he was the first candidate on stage to endorse Trump in the 2024 election.

We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Mark Carlisle can be reached at mcarlisle@iniusa.org.

Mark Carlisle
Associate Editor | Phoenix

mcarlisle@iniusa.org

Meet Mark

Mark Carlisle joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, covering Glendale. He has since moved to the Daily Independent team, primarily covering the city of Phoenix along with other topics affecting the Valley at-large.

Community: Mark enjoys taking his two young sons to parks, the Phoenix Zoo, the Phoenix Public Library  and other fun events around the Valley. He also participates in a local book club.

Education: Chapman University with a BA in English Journalism and one in Screenwriting.

Random Fact: Mark worked at a tuxedo shop in college. Just don’t ask him to tie a bowtie.

 Hobbies: Spending time with his wife, sons and dog, watching sports and TV shows, listening to audiobooks and occasionally writing fiction or designing a board game.