Actor Antonio Sabato Jr. cites his closeness to President Donald Trump in his bid to unseat Democratic Congresswoman Julia Brownley in California's 26th District.
Sabato, known for his roles in "General Hospital" and "Melrose Place," noted he immigrated to the United States legally from Italy in the 1980s. He favors Trump's border wall, but told Fox Business Channel last month he also would like to see legislation to protect the so-called "Dreamers" who were brought to the United States illegally as children.
"We need to build this wall," Sabato told "Intelligence Report" host Trish Regan. "And we need to make it harder for people to come to this country, but with hard work it's not impossible."
Sabato also has sided with the president on standing for the national anthem.
His official campaign website noted, "He has not been shy about his political views in the face of his Hollywood peers and is proud of his early support for President Donald J. Trump."
Sabato spoke on Trump's behalf at the Republican National Convention where Trump received his party's nomination before his successful campaign to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in November.
The campaign website noted incumbent Brownley was named one of the least effective members of Congress by the nonpartisan group InsideGov in 2015.
Brownley, Sabato says on the site, "dutifully towed the party line" when the Oxnard Veterans Affairs office, which is in her district, was caught shredding records after it was described by the Obama administration's VA directors as having wait times akin to a ride at Disneyland.
The congresswoman has likewise favored party over the people of her district in other issues, including not standing up to Obama lifting a ban on citrus imports that hurt local jobs and threatened crops from possible "disastrous pestilence" from the imported produce.
Sabato also opposes the Obama-brokered Iran nuclear deal and sanctuary cities.
Sabato's support of Trump has gotten him blacklisted from several Hollywood projects, the Los Angeles Times quoted him as saying.
But that closeness with the president would be an asset to people in the district if they vote him into the House of Representatives, his fundraiser Charles Moran, told the Times in May.
"Being a Republican and with proximity to the White House and Republican leadership, he's going to be able to get more done — being in the majority, with his notoriety, for the residents of the 26th [Congressional] District," Moran said.
The 26th District represents much of Ventura County, including the cities of Camarillo, Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Paula, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, and Moorpark.
It supported Clinton for president in November, and Obama before that, but has favored Republicans Meg Whitman for governor and Carly Fiorina for Senate as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor.