The Jihadist’s Victory Shows That Ordinary Democrats Need to Stop Being the Tools of Their Elites

In this RedState article, Adam Turner argues that Adam Hamawy’s Democratic primary win in New Jersey should be a wake-up call for ordinary Democratic voters who keep empowering radical candidates pushed or tolerated by party elites.

• Turner frames the piece around the word “tool,” arguing that too many rank-and-file Democrats accept party narratives without questioning where those narratives are taking the country.
• The article focuses on Adam Hamawy, a New Jersey Democrat who won a primary in a safe blue House district despite serious allegations about past associations and radical sympathies.
• Turner highlights reports that Hamawy previously testified in connection with the “Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdel-Rahman, the convicted figure tied to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
• The piece also points to Hamawy’s reported past work with the Benevolence International Foundation, which authorities later accused of serving as an al-Qaida-linked front.
• Turner argues that Hamawy’s more recent Gaza activism and anti-Israel rhetoric should have raised obvious alarms for Democratic primary voters.
• The author connects Hamawy to a broader trend of radical figures gaining power on the left, naming Zohran Mamdani, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Graham Platner as examples.
• Turner’s central claim is that Democratic elites have spent years conditioning voters to see Republicans, Trump, Israel, ICE, and conservatives through a distorted “Nazi” or “authoritarian” lens.
• He argues that ordinary Democrats cannot simply blame party elites anymore because voters themselves are choosing these candidates and enabling their rhetoric.
• Turner says Democratic voters do not need to become conservatives, but they do need to investigate politically charged claims beyond mainstream media framing.
• The article concludes that if voters keep elevating candidates like Hamawy, they are failing their civic duty to help preserve the republic.

Read the full story: https://redstate.com/adam-turner/2026/06/04/the-jihadists-victory-shows-that-ordinary-democrats-need-to-stop-being-the-tools-of-their-elites-n2202992