J. D. Hayworth

As a congressman, Hayworth served on the House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means. He was the first ever representative from Arizona to have served on the committee.[6] While working on the committee, he was given a "satisfactory" (64 percent) rating from the National Taxpayers Union. Hayworth supported the tax cuts of 2001[7] and 2003,[8] signed into law by President George W. Bush.

In 1994, Hayworth ran in what was then the 6th District and defeated incumbent Democrat Karan English, taking 54 percent of the vote to English's 42 percent. Hayworth criticized English's support for Bill Clinton's budget plan, which Hayworth termed the largest tax increase in history. English had been endorsed in her successful 1992 campaign by former state U.S. Senator and 1964 Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater when she ran against Doug Wead, but not in 1994 when she ran against Hayworth.

In 1996, Hayworth fired two of his campaign aides for their part in forging his signature to file a campaign affidavit on time. He won in 1996 with 48 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat Steve Owens.

In 1998, Hayworth signed and filed the form in person, with television cameras, campaign volunteers, and the Arizona Secretary of State watching. He again defeated Owens, 52 percent to 45 percent.

His next three elections he won handily: He won in 2000 against Larry K. Nelson, 60 percent to 37 percent; in 2002 against Craig Columbus, getting 61 percent of the vote; and in 2004 against Justice Elizabeth Rogers, getting 60 percent.

During his first four terms, Hayworth represented a district that took in most of the northeastern portion of the state, including Flagstaff. Most of its population, however, was located in the Phoenix suburbs. After the 2000 census, his district was renumbered the 5th District and was made a much more compact district centered on the northeastern Valley—including all of Tempe, Scottsdale and Fountain Hills, western Mesa, and Chandler, and part of northeastern Phoenix. Despite a modest Republican registration advantage, it was considered to be slightly less conservative than other suburban Phoenix districts.

Hayworth and Barney Frank at a Capitol Hill press conference.

Known for his outspoken nature—he called President Clinton an "unprincipled philandering president" who had "the most corrupt administration in U.S. history"[9] – Hayworth is a frequent guest on conservative TV and talk radio. He sometimes substitutes as host of the nationally syndicated Laura Ingraham political commentary show on the Talk Radio Network.

Hayworth has never shied away from controversy. In the same campaign letter in which he criticized Clinton, he said his Democratic opponent was "bankrolled by trial lawyers, radical homosexual rights groups, environmental extremists ... along with almost every other left-wing wacko group you can think of."[9]

Hayworth is a staunch conservative. He supports stronger border security and opposes the temporary worker program proposed by President George W. Bush for illegal aliens.

In January 2006, Regnery published Whatever It Takes: Illegal Immigration, Border Security, and the War on Terror, a book by Hayworth and his chief of staff, Joseph J. Eule. In the book, Hayworth said that Bush is too close to GOP contributors from the agribusiness, meat packing and construction industries, whom he calls "addicted" to a steady stream of workers from Mexico and Central America to keep wages down. Hayworth also argues that current immigration law misinterprets the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, saying that a child of undocumented immigrants born in the U.S. should not be given U.S. citizenship (a view he has reiterated during the 2010 campaign[10]), and advocates the "Americanization" program Henry Ford advocated in an interview with the New York Times in 1914.[11]

The ever-so-successful process that used to be called "Americanization" was a major movement in the early 1900s ... Henry Ford, a leader in this movement, said, "These men of many nations must be taught American ways, the English language, and the right way to live." Talk like that today and our liberal elites will brand you a cultural imperialist, or worse. But if you ask me, Ford had a better idea.

Hayworth is the chairman of the advisory committee of the United States Justice Foundation.