WASHINGTON, D.C. — Omar Navarro, 28, says he’s had “enough” of watching California’s liberal politicians let the Golden State and country fall apart.
The young, Latino conservative is challenging left-wing Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) for her seat in the 43rd Congressional District in the 2018 elections.
“When I realized Maxine Waters was my representative, I said, ‘Wow, this person is representing me? How are people electing this person year after year?'” Navarro said. “I started doing research and looking into her background and I did not see one candidate running a legitimate campaign against her in 27 years.”
In an interview with Breitbart News, Navarro said he is tired of seeing “liberal politicians that are running their own districts, their own counties down to the ground. Enough is enough.” He said he’s running in 2018 because “We have to do something about it and I’m not going to let our country fall apart.”
Navarro was born in Inglewood, California and spent a significant portion of his life in Hawthorne and Torrance. He said that played a significant role in his decision to run in the 43rd district against Waters, because he knows the region and its people. The 43rd District includes parts of South Central L.A., Westchester, Playa Del Rey, Torrance, Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood and Lawndale.
He resigned from his position serving on the traffic commission in Torrance two weeks ago. This is not his first time running against Waters: Navarro ran against the seasoned congresswoman in 2016.
He had only raised about $3,000 for his initial run against Waters, compared to the $650,000 she spent against him. “But I still got 25 percent of the vote, which was quite humbling to even receive that type of vote with the amount of money I spent.” He added, “I learned a lot from that election,” and said, “It was an honor for me to be on the ballot with [Donald] Trump too.”
Approximately three weeks after the November 2016 elections, Navarro said he was able to gather information and numbers about how well he could potentially do in another political run against Waters. He was optimistic and began doing videos on Periscope. He went out and talked to people at rallies and city council protests. “I started getting a good reception from people who were interacting with me. And then I decided, I’m going to do this. I’m going to run again. I had a good feeling,” He said. “I just felt it.”
“I want to run. I want to make a difference in my community. I want to impact my community. I’m tired of all of these politicians not doing anything for us. They’re not changing anything. I want to be that person.”
He has out-raised Waters on individual contributions, according to the most recent filings. “I raised close to $31,000 and she raised about $26,000,” Navarro said. The next filing will be in September.
Navarro attended El Camino College in Torrance with the intention of studying business administration, but he transferred to ITT Tech and achieved his degree in Criminal Justice. He then went to the University of Southern California and took courses in Information Security. “I wanted to learn more about government and security networks. I also worked for the district attorney’s office in Los Angeles County with victims of crimes.”
He has also worked for Samsung and Sony. He said one of his best jobs was being paid to play video games, which he did while working for the government.
Last week, Navarro held a fundraiser at the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes. “Maxine Waters if you’re listening, I’m coming for you.”
Waters has been among the most vocal politicians calling for Trump’s impeachment through the so-called “resistance” movement manufactured by the left. “It’s all a diversion,” Navarro told Breitbart News:
It’s a way for them divert themselves away from the real issues in our country. The 43rd Congressional District is no different than the rest of the country. We have a lot of poverty here. We have a lot of homeless people. We have a lot of crime. It’s infested with crime. You have businesses that are also leaving because they don’t want to be in an area that’s infested with crime and homeless people all over the place. They don’t want to be in a community that’s falling apart.
So far, Navarro has received endorsements from a few nationally-known figures. Political operative Roger Stone is working on his campaign, for example.
The top issues Navarro is campaigning on are business growth, job creation, solving homelessness, protecting the Second Amendment, favoring legal immigration over illegal immigration, and providing veterans better care and treatment.
“What are we doing for our homeless veterans?” Navarro asked. “I don’t like seeing people that protected our freedoms ending up in the streets,” Navarro said. On immigration, he added, “I’m a big supporter of people coming here through the right process. My mom came from the northern part of Mexico and my father came from Havana, Cuba. But they both did it right. They didn’t break any laws. They respected the law.”
Navarro said his father worked in the aerospace industry for years and his mother has worked in real estate. “This country has been good to my family,” Navarro said. “It was not easy to come to this country, but they did it right.”
He said he passion for politics came from his grandparents. “I was very close to my grandparents from my dad’s side. My grandfather passed away three years ago and I miss him a lot. Both my grandparents were very passionate about politics. They were amazing people. My grandfather was very strong. He as a go-getter and very talkative. My grandmother was very intelligent. She’s still alive and almost 95. She went from being a principal in Cuba to teaching here again in Cal State Dominguez Hills, teaching English and Spanish.”
However, one of his greatest inspirations has, and will always remain, Andrew Breitbart.
“I love Andrew,” Navarro said of the late founder of Breitbart News.
“I met him years ago. I met him for the first time when I was 22 and I got to meet him two other times after that.” He said, “The second time I met him I got his book,” Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World.
“Andrew wrote in my book, ‘Omar, fight the man.’ And I knew, then and there, that I was going to end up fighting the man for the rest of my life and that’s what I’ve been doing every since,” he said.
Asked what “the man” symbolized, Navarro told Breitbart News, “‘The man represented going against the trend, going against the grain, going against the PC [politically correct] culture, basically being the person that influences change. Being the person that changes culture. That’s how he explained it to me at that time. And I was very impressed. And I read his book, of course, and it talked about going against the left and standing up to the left.”
Navarro also complimented Breitbart’s rise from humble beginnings. “I also like that he was a pizza delivery guy for Pizza Hut. It’s a pretty cool story.”
Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
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