Restaurateur, football player, doctor: These Republicans are running against Greg Stanton

Four Republican hopefuls are taking aim at Rep. Greg Stanton in Arizona’s 4th Congressional District.

Stanton, D-Ariz., won with a landslide 12-point margin of victory during the last election cycle, though analysts estimate the House seat leans Democratic by just two percentage points, making it theoretically competitive in a general election.

The Phoenix-area district stretches across much of the East Valley, including Tempe and parts of Chandler, Mesa, Scottsdale and Phoenix.

So far, four Republican candidates are fundraising in the race. In interviews with The Arizona Republic, all named some aspects of immigration and the economy as their top issues, though they emphasized different aspects of those policy areas.

Here’s what to know about the GOP rivals in the race to face off with Stanton.

Restaurateur Kelly Cooper touts business experience

Kelly Cooper, the GOP nominee who unsuccessfully challenged Stanton in 2022, made time for a Republic interview while deep-cleaning his restaurant.

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

“My in-depth knowledge of profit and loss statements, and financial information in managing a business, and really the involvement of creating jobs in the district, and being a part of sustaining jobs in the district, along with being a husband and father, are really what tops my list of qualifications,” Cooper said.

His top two issues are “security in the community” and on people’s “standard of living,” noting that many struggle to afford a home. He said his priorities would be to bring back American manufacturing and energy production.

That’s been a central focus of President Joe Biden’s flagship pieces of legislation, which have made large investments in semiconductor manufacturing, clean energy and infrastructure.

While Biden’s administration has pursued some restrictions on fossil fuels, such as temporarily pausing some natural gas exports and making efforts to phase down coal, it is also overseeing record amounts of oil and gas production.

In an interview scheduled on short notice, Cooper couldn’t say how exactly his plans would differ from the recent Democrat-led legislation but said he would oppose “anything that’s restricting the development of energy here in our country” or “anything that’s increasing spending on things that are not central to the success of our nation.”

Why should primary voters believe Cooper could beat Stanton this time around, after losing to him by 12 points in 2022?

“Greg Stanton, and the things that he supports, are not in the best interests of the people in this district,” Cooper said. “I think that people have seen that more clearly, and they're starting to, as many of them already do, recognize my history and my background and how it lines up with exactly the issues that need to be addressed today.”

Allison Childress, a spokesperson for Stanton's campaign, wrote in response: "While his extreme opponents are desperately trying to get Donald Trump's endorsement, Congressman Stanton is focused on the issues that matter to Arizona's Fourth district: reducing health care costs, protecting our water, fighting for real investments in border security and building an economy that works for every family."

Football player Jerone Davison floats FBI conspiracy, isolationism

Jerone Davison, a former NFL player and pastor, sought the same House seat in 2022 in a campaign that was punctuated with controversies.

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."

Later it surfaced that Davison’s campaign manager was Austin Steinbart, a celebrity among supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory that former President Donald Trump is fending off forces of evil within the government, often involving child sex trafficking.

“A brilliant young man,” Davison said of Steinbart, but “he never talked about QAnon stuff around me.”

Without evidence, Davison has said that federal law enforcement had “prior knowledge” of school shootings, a belief he says he stands by in his new campaign.

He has also claimed the FBI poisoned him before the Republican primary in 2022, when he says he experienced a bout of sickness that put him in the hospital.

On the issues, Davison says his top priorities are immigration and the economy, and spelled out an isolationist foreign policy platform. He believes the U.S. should stop sending military aid to Ukraine as that country battles an invasion by Russia.

“If other countries want our protections they should pay for it. … It shouldn’t be at the American taxpayer’s expense,” he said. “We should make sure our border is taken care of before we go over and, hypocritically, try to protect other people’s borders.”

Proponents of the military aid argue Ukraine is a key American ally as a counter to Russia next door, or because of its strategic geographic positioning.

Davison’s view: “Ukraine isn’t even one of our allies.”

“Let the European nations, their neighbors, take care of that,” Davison said, unless the matter seems like it could escalate into “a third world war,” in which case, “yeah, let us get involved.”

Dave Giles slams 'government overreach'

In an interview with The Republic, Dave Giles slid a pocket-size copy of the U.S. Constitution across the table.

“Nowhere in there are you going to find anything in there about the Department of Education," he said. "It should not be a federal issue. It belongs to the states.”

Giles, a longtime employee of the oil company Saudi Aramco, has become a perennial candidate, having run for Congress in 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022.

He says his top priorities are “securing our border” and the economy, chiefly keeping inflation low and domestic energy production high. He distinguished himself by his emphasis on the size of the federal government.

“Government overreach is killing us,” Giles said, declining to name specific programs he would cut but gesturing to the Department of Education. “If they’ve exceeded constitutional boundaries, we should revisit it and see if it’s really still needed.”

Asked whether he would support proposals to abolish the Department of Education or Internal Revenue Service, Giles said: “Yes, absolutely. It’s not in the Constitution. I would support that,” with exceptions for the federal government to issue non-binding guidance on a “core mission” related to education.

“Don’t be carte-blanche stupid and say, ‘Wipe it all out,’” he said. “No, you don’t want to do that. But our country’s become the greatest country in the world because of this Constitution.”

The biggest difference between himself and his opponents, Giles said, is that his competitors are “needed right where they are,” he said, whereas “I can dedicate my life” to serving in Congress.

Zuhdi Jasser targets 'anti-American' ideologies

The son of political refugees from Syria, Zuhdi Jasser, a doctor running for political office for the first time, said free speech is a core value of his, while criticizing some political philosophies he argues go against American values.

There are two major reasons he’s running, Jasser said. First, he feels his profession was “weaponized by the federal government” during the COVID-19 pandemic to take away people’s rights. For example, by placing restrictions on businesses’ operations and, he said, by making "health care choices for Americans.”

Jasser compared pandemic-era restrictions, which were crafted based on experts’ assessments of what was needed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, to the stories he grew up hearing about the politically repressive Syrian government.

The second reason he’s running, Jasser said, is his opposition to “political Islam,” prompted by the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ recent attacks on Israel.

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., Jasser 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. Critics said those measures promoted fear and uncertainty or violated civil rights.

Jasser’s eight-point plan for immigration reform includes, among other items, screening immigrants based on their political viewpoints.

“We need to vet against anti-American ideologies, including adherence to communism, certain political parties, fascist parties, the Muslim Brotherhood, National Democratic party of Egypt, Assad’s Baath party in Syria, and many others. But we also need to vet for willingness to embrace western core American ideals, including economic freedom, religious freedom, and the existence of God-given human rights,” his website reads.

Jasser’s prior political involvement means he’s already “battle-tested” for a campaign, he said, and his detailed policy platform sets him apart from the other candidates in the race.

“My opponents don’t have clarity on what their positions are that they’re going to take to Washington when it comes to fixing the border,” he said.

“The other candidates don’t have a prescription. They just want to go with the mood in the room.”

Laura Gersony covers national politics for the Arizona Republic. Contact her at lgersony@gannett.com or 480-372-0389.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kelly Cooper, Jerone Davison, Zuhdi Jasser want to oust Greg Stanton