Two democrats debate in bid to unseat Rep. Abe Hamadeh in AZ’s 8th Congressional District

A former long-haul truck driver and an Army veteran faced off Monday night in the Democratic primary debate for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, each making the case they are best positioned to unseat freshman Rep. Abe Hamadeh in the November general election.

Both candidates balanced their moderate stances.

“I am a proud, moderate Democrat,” Keeler said, describing Hamadeh as a “MAGA election denier.”

“To win back the working class that Democrats have kind of lost, we have got to present somebody that can reach across the aisle, speak to those people, but also that they’ll vote for,” Greene-Placentia said.

KTAR News streamed the debate on its YouTube page.

Bernadette Greene-Placentia and Raymond “Ray” Keeler are the only two Democrats on the primary ballot in the West Valley Republican stronghold, which stretches from Glendale and Peoria north to Anthem.

Who is Bernadette Greene-Placentia?

Greene-Placentia spent 27 years as a solo long-haul truck driver before launching what she calls a grassroots campaign with no major party support.

She was raised in rural Nebraska and attended the University of Arizona on an Army ROTC scholarship.

Social Security, Medicare and VA funding are the main focus of her campaign, according to her campaign website. She argues the district’s large retiree and veteran population is directly harmed by federal cuts.

Greene-Placentia also wants a seat on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where she says she would push to overhaul trucking regulations she believes drive up consumer prices and fuel the flow of drugs across the border.

Who is Ray Keeler?

Keeler is a software engineer and U.S. Army veteran who served with the 82nd Airborne Division.

He holds a degree from Arizona State University and has lived in the district since 1984. He spent 17 years on the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office mountain rescue team, according to his campaign website.

Keeler centers his campaign on restoring what he calls the three co-equal branches of government, fiscal responsibility and targeted rather than blanket tariffs.

Both democratic candidates have a wide fundraising gap behind Abe Hamadeh

The fundraising gap between the two Democrats is stark, according to most recent FEC filings. Greene-Placentia has raised about $209,000, nearly all of it from individual contributions, with the bulk, more than $165,000, coming in small-dollar donations.

Keeler, who registered his campaign committee in January, has raised about $18,000, which includes a $6,500 personal loan to his campaign.

Hamadeh, by contrast, has raised more than $1 million this cycle, including nearly $224,000 from political committees and about $361,000 transferred from other authorized campaign accounts.

Early voting begins June 24. The primary is July 21.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly indicated that the district covered in this debate was once represented by Gabby Giffords. While it has the same current numbers as the Giffords’ district did when she was in Congress, the numbering has since changed.

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