Former chair of the Williamson County Republican Party, Dr. Omar Hamada, said he plans to decide on launching a bid for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District “sooner than later” following incumbent U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) announcing his retirement.
Hamada (pictured above), who said he spoke with Green shortly after he announced his retirement, explained how he feels he is being “thrust” into the race in a way, adding, “I feel like the Lord is leading me in that direction.”
“I’m praying about it. Of course, you know, this took us all by surprise,” Hamada said during Friday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy. “I have a great year ahead of me. I’ve got a lot of things I’m excited about doing and I certainly wasn’t prepared to jump into a race like this. I don’t think anyone was. But at the same time, I think, honestly, I don’t know many people that want to go to Washington right now as broken as it is. But I feel like personally, I feel like I’m being thrust into it in a way, and I feel like the Lord is leading me in that direction. But I’m just waiting for good counsel from folks and just praying hard about it.”
Hamada added that he hopes that the next individual who fills Green’s House seat, whether it’s him or another elected candidate, can find “like-minded people” in D.C. who can “stand together and change course and turn the ship around.”
“Our nation’s dying, and I believe that we’re beyond the point of no return in some ways, but I still have great hope in all of us, in the American people, that we do want better. I don’t know that one person can make a difference but hopefully, if I do go up there, whoever goes up there, can find people of like-mind who can stand together and change course and turn the ship around,” Hamada explained. “If you watch the movie The Patriot with Mel Gibson, I’m sure most of us have, everyone was in the church voting on whether or not to go to war with Britain and Mel Gibson said, “I’m a father, I can’t afford to go to war.” But then he was thrust into it. And once he was, he fought like hell and made a big difference. And that’s sort of like, I feel where we are.”
Hamada continued by stressing the importance of the work in D.C., saying the person who gets elected “needs to be ready to fight.”
“We have to have fighters and warriors who are going to go up and not just keep doing the same old thing and not keep conceding and not keep voting the same way, but really changing things, turning the ship around and doing things completely differently to get us pointed back in the right direction. It may be too late, I don’t think it is, I hope it’s not, but you know, whoever we send up there, whether it’s me or someone else, I think needs to buckle the boots tight and be ready to fight,” Hamada added.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Omar Hamada” by Omar Hamada.
