Perhaps you’ve seen news stories this week about Republican U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona rising to give comfort to a potential Democratic opponent, Deedra Abboud, who’s been subject to abuse because she’s Muslim.

Abboud is originally from Little Rock, but has lived in Arizona for 19 years. She’s a lawyer and married to Joseph Abboud. She had been a registered independent, but registered as a Democrat for the race. Her campaign biography says:

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Deedra and her three sisters were raised by a single mother, Jean Fullbright, who attended the state law enforcement training academy in Arkansas and became a sheriff’s deputy. Jean wanted to go after deadbeat dads and was later instrumental in creating child support enforcement efforts in Arkansas. “My mom became one of the most determined people I’ve ever known, reaching for something so much bigger than her.”

No problems with her policy outlooks.

Abboud, described as a civil rights activist, wrote a Facebook post about freedom of religion.  That brought, as the Arizona Republic reports,  “hundreds of hateful responses” because of her religion. Examples from the article:

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Here’s S. Jason Parr: “Nice try but your first love is Satan (AKA Allah) and your second love is to a litter box your ‘people’ come from. You are as American as Chinese checkers.”

Here’s Roy Sanders: “Get out stinking Muslim.”

Let’s hear from Tony Madden: “I bet you’ll be a BLAST with constituents.”

Here’s Brian Zappa: “How about go $#%# yourself. Towel headed piece of $#^%.”

Here’s Michael Scozzari: “Vote to send them back to the sand pit, were (sic) these scumbag people belong!”

The response was so ugly it prompted this Twitter response from Flake:

Abboud was the first Democrat to announce against Flake, who’ll also face a primary challenge. Other Democrats mentioned include U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema.

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The Phoenix New Times told more of Abboud’s personal story in a profile about her work in the Muslim community in 2006.

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