1. This is Ammar Campa-Najjar, a 28-year-old small business owner who runs a company called ACN strategies, which focuses on public affairs and strategic communications. He’s also running for Congress.
2. On Tuesday, Campa-Najjar announced on Facebook his run for Congress in California’s 50th Congressional District, which includes five other Democrats already in the race. Duncan D. Hunter, a Republican, currently represents the district that includes most of San Diego. He was elected in 2009, succeeding his father, Duncan L. Hunter.
“My journey really began in 2012 when I was a field director during the Obama campaign,” Campa-Najjar told BuzzFeed News. He praised the people he worked with during that time who “volunteered their labor and love” in the spirit of “the advocacy of a common cause, which was re-electing the president.”
3. As far as why he chose to run for Congress, Campa-Najjar told BuzzFeed News that his main goal was to unite people, especially in today’s political climate.
He reflected on the sense of solidarity during the Obama years, saying, “We were a unified progressive movement.”
“Before people were feeling the burn, before people were stronger together, we were unified and feeling fired up and ready to go,” he said, invoking the slogans of Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
4. Campa-Najjar is well on his way to becoming a public figure, and this was evident when he started going viral earlier today.
5. NBC News ran an article on the candidate, which focused on his announcement to run for office and his background.
Ammar Campa-Najjar, 28, a young Latino Arab American, is running for Congress. https://t.co/CUFUVoEpei
— NBC Latino (@NBCLatino)
6. Instead of focusing on the contents of the article, Twitter honed in on Campa-Najjar’s face, expressing their thirst.
@NBCLatino
— Ryan Houlihan (@RyanHoulihan)
7. Internet stars chimed in.
@NBCLatino @BroderickGreer okay!!
— Tyler Oakley (@tyleroakley)
8. People were raring to go to the polls.
@NBCLatino On my way to the polls
— SourceAshley (@WrecklessLove)
9. Some used bordering-on-explict GIFs to get their thoughts about Campa-Najjar across.
@NBCLatino
— Giblet (@VegasGiblet)
10. The tweets didn’t stop, and people were really into it.
@NBCLatino me trying to get bills passed
— ashley (@ashleydianette)
11. One user likened Campa-Najjar to a Jonas brother look-a-like.
@NBCLatino @nomadandn Anyone else thought this was a Jonas brother, cousin or something Jonas in general?
— Sharnya (@Tileiya)
12. “I mean, it’s flattering,” Campa-Najjar told BuzzFeed News about the reaction people have had towards him. “I hope people focus on my ideas and not my looks.”
He continued: “I’m the candidate. The real casanova of my family is my brother, so take a look at him. He’s the good-looking one.”
13. Though online reaction was strong in a superficial way, Campa-Najjar is going to stay focused on his campaign.
“My party lost the election because we were focused too much on the newsroom and not people’s living room and dining rooms and that’s where I intend to spend most of my time,” he said.
14. He added he intends to spend the coming months “talking to people about what’s hurting them, what’s affecting them.”
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