By: Jerry Cornfield – October 17, 2024 5:52 pm
A Republican congressional candidate in Washington says he doesn’t believe “devout” Muslim Americans should serve in Congress but insists he will work with those there now if elected.
Jerrod Sessler, who is challenging incumbent Republican Congressman Dan Newhouse, said he is “not trying to take away someone’s constitutional rights” but does not believe Muslims can uphold the oath of office because “their fundamental belief system is anti-American.”
This is not a new view for Sessler but it has re-emerged following his recent interview with the Yakima Herald-Republic. “There is no way that a devout Muslim should be in Congress,” he told the newspaper. He made similar remarks during this year’s primary.
A Navy veteran and entrepreneur, Sessler is trying to win the 4th Congressional District seat Newhouse has held since 2015. The district covers rural central Washington, stretching from the Canadian border to the Oregon state line and includes the Yakima Valley, the Yakama Indian Reservation, Tri-Cities, Moses Lake and East Wenatchee.
Former president and current Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is backing Sessler, who is running to the right of the incumbent. Newhouse is one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Cherissa Boyd, a Democrat, is running as a write-in candidate.
In his conversation with the Herald-Republic, Sessler pointed to passages in the Quran that call for the killing of non-believers as concerning.
