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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., and other Democrats responded to the “antisemitic” rhetoric of the Democratic Alliance about arresting and condemning “American Zionists” by trying to blame Republicans.
After progressive Democrat Maureen Galindo sparked controversy by promising to open a “jail for American Zionists and ICE officials,” Jeffries and the Democratic DRM Campaign Committee (DCCC) said in a joint statement that “MAGA activists should be ashamed of themselves.”
Jeffries and the DCCC blamed GOP leaders for supporting Galindo, saying, “House Republican leaders must immediately stop supporting this antisemitic candidate, spend money on the race and condemn these comments.”
“This vile language is inappropriate and has no place in American politics, and it has no place in the Democratic Party,” Jeffries and the DCCC said in a statement, adding, “To accept and promote a candidate with antisemitic — and very dangerous — speech and ideas to win an election is beyond the pale.”
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Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., accused Republicans of Maureen Galindo’s “antisemitic” speech of the Democratic Congress. Galindo is in the middle. (Katina Zentz/San Antonio Express-News via Getty Images; Sven Hoppe/photo alliance via Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“Texans will not be fooled and will reject him at the ballot box next week,” they added.
Galindo, who is currently locked in Texas’ primary congressional seat, is facing backlash after he pledged on social media to turn the local ICE facility into a “prison for American Zionists and former ICE officials.” He also said in the post that this prison “will also be a center for processing the castration of people who abuse children, which may be the majority of Zionists.”
Earlier this month, the DCCC accused “Washington Republicans” of secretly contributing to Galindo’s campaign by using dark money.
Galindo and his colleagues, Johnny Garcia, who was honored by the DCCC, are expected to compete in the next election next week. In their first contest, Galindo narrowly edged Garcia, 29 percent to 27 percent, although neither candidate came close to clearing the 50 percent threshold needed to win the nomination.
Jeffries and the DCCC were not the only ones trying to target Republicans after Galindo’s comments.
Ocasio-Cortez called Galindo’s comments “absolutely disgusting,” writing in X that his “gross trash and bigotry should not be near our politics.”
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House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., speaks during his weekly news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Feb. 2, 2023. (Drew Anger/Getty Images)
He urged Texans in the district to vote for Garcia, writing, “donors supporting his Republican super PAC funding should be disclosed.”
On the other side of the aisle, Rep. Elise Stefanik, RN.Y., wrote, “I rarely panic. But this disgusting anti-Semitic statement is truly shocking.”
He stressed that “Every Democrat candidate needs to publicly denounce this immediately.”
In the upper chamber of Congress, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., called it “beyond contempt” that “a member of the Democratic Alliance is openly calling for a concentration camp for Jews in the United States of America in 2026.”
Despite this, many Democrats accused Republicans of supporting a candidate in Texas. Rep. Christian Menefee, D-Texas, wrote on X, “Republicans should stop supporting his fraudulent election.”
Menefee added that he was “disgusted to see these antisemitic comments from a Texas Democrat,” writing that Galindo “has no place in our party and has no place in Congress.”
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Texas Senate candidate James Talarico urged voters to cut back on meat consumption in a 2022 presidential campaign that aired Tuesday. (Mark Felix/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, one of the top Democrats in Texas’ November election, Rep. James Talarico, who is running for a sensitive Senate seat, responded to the controversy by saying, “We need leadership on both sides that is willing to stand up and call out hatred wherever it rears its ugly head,” according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Talarico also said, “This antisemitic speech has no place in our politics,” according to the agency.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Galindo for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and Brittany Miller contributed to this report.
