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Mom Gets in Between Paul Gosar’s Fight With Siblings

Says she is ‘shocked’ six of her children would repudiate Arizona GOP congressman in ads

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., defended himself against his brothers and sisters' political attack ads for his opponent. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., defended himself against his brothers and sisters' political attack ads for his opponent. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Rep. Paul Gosar’s mother defended him against a political attack ad in which six of her other children repudiated the Arizona GOP congressman for his hardline conservative views and conspiracy theories.

Bernadette Gosar, 85, the mother of 10 Gosar children, told The New York Times she was “shocked” and “crushed” that six of her children would agree to appear in, so far, a series of four advertisements condemning their oldest brother for his political beliefs and rhetoric as he seeks a fifth term in Arizona’s 4th District.

Gosar floated the conspiracy theory last year that the white nationalist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year was funded by liberal billionaire donor George Soros. He has also spread the theory that former president Barack Obama was a Kenyan-born Muslim.

Bernadette Gosar sided with her congressman son politically. But she defended her whole family, too. She said she had a “wonderful family” that just didn’t see eye to eye with Paul on politics.

“I share the same philosophy and policies that Paul does,” Bernadette Gosar said. “He’s done a hell of a job for Arizona, and they love him.”

Gosar’s brothers David, Tim, and Gaston and sisters Joan, Jennifer, and Grace appeared in a series of four scathing ads released Friday distancing themselves from their brother in Congress and asking voters in his district to vote for his Democratic opponent, David Brill.

“I think my brother has traded a lot of the values we had at our kitchen table,” Joan Gosar, a civil engineer, says in one of the ads, titled, “A Family Defends Its Honor.”

“It’s intervention time,” Tim Gosar, a private investigator, said. “And intervention time means that you go to vote and you go to vote Paul out.”

David Gosar, who has a Twitter handle that he told Buzzfeed he created for the express purpose of denigrating his brother on the platform, said that the siblings in the ad said they had to “stand up for our good name.”

“This is not who we are,” David Gosar said.

The congressman defended himself on Twitter over the weekend, using his mother’s quote in the Times articles to say, “I guess I really am Mom’s favorite!”

“You can’t pick your family. We all have crazy aunts and relatives etc and my family is no different,” Gosar tweeted on Saturday. “I hope they find peace in their hearts and let go all the hate.”

Then he added a parting shot:

“To the six angry Democrat Gosars — see you at Mom and Dad’s house!”

Gosar is expected to cruise to re-election in November in the deep-red district.

President Donald Trump carried Arizona’s 4th District by 40 points in 2016.

Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the race Solid Republican.

Watch: Words Are Hard — Congressional Hits and Misses

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