U.S. Sen. Rand Paul has a word he uses to describe most incumbent members of Congress: furniture.
“They’re inorganic, they’re lifeless, and you can put them over here or you can put them over here, but they make no difference,” the Kentucky lawmaker said Monday afternoon during an appearance at Gourmeltz restaurant in Spotsylvania County. “They believe in nothing, they are inert, they are worthless, and they are many of them Republican.”
Why would the politico publicly impugn the integrity of his peers, many of them in his own party? Because he said that House of Representatives candidate Cameron Hamilton is different. Hamilton would be his ally in fighting against such conservative enemies as illegal immigration and the federal Department of Education.
“We’ve got to get better Republicans, and you’ve got one right here, Cameron Hamilton,” Paul said.
Hamilton is one of six candidates seeking the Republican nomination in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, which includes the Fredericksburg area. He faces Derrick Anderson, Maria Martin, Jon Myers, John Prabhudoss and Terris Todd in a June 18 primary.
The winner in that contest will square off in the Nov. 5 general election against the victor in a crowded field of Democrats: Margaret Franklin, Carl Bedell, Briana Sewell, Eugene Vindman, Elizabeth Guzman, Andrea Bailey and Cliff Heinzer.
The 7th District seat will be open because current Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, decided to run for governor instead of seeking re-election. Spanberger was first elected in 2018.
In his short speech to a crowded Gourmeltz, Paul even criticized GOP Speaker Mike Johnson for voting with Democrats. He said that too often Republican candidates are barely discernible from those in his own party.
“Sometimes there’s no difference at all,” he said.
Prince William County Supervisor Yesli Vega, the 2022 GOP nominee in the 7th District, also spoke Monday on Hamilton’s behalf and criticized the Republican House majority.
“I don’t know about you all, but I’m sick and tired of the status quo,” Vega said to the audience gathered at the eatery, owned by Matt Strickland, who ran unsuccessfully last year for the Republican nomination for state Senate in the 27th District.
Hamilton, who was a Navy Seal before working for the State Department and Department of Homeland Security, said voters need to remind Washington legislators whom they represent.
“And it’s not their special interests, and it’s not lobbyists,” the Orange County resident said. “They work for us.”
In an interview after Monday’s event, Hamilton also said more citizens would be concerned about illegal immigration if they understood that the federal government is spending massive amounts at the southern border to no avail.
“It’s only getting worse,” he said.
In addition, Hamilton said former president Donald Trump’s recent conviction in a hush-money case, though hailed by Democrats, could actually increase participation in the Republican primary as those voters may be motivated by the outcome.
“It likely will drive more Republican voters to vote in a primary, that is true,” he said. “So I would expect that to be a consequence.”
Hamilton also claimed that Vindman, presumed to be the Democratic frontrunner in the 7th District, has no political positions other than a disdain for Trump, drawing a parallel to those congressional incumbents Paul mentioned.
“Personally, I think if they put him up, they lose,” Hamilton said of Vindman. “Every single time.”
