Ohio. Florida. Georgia. Each of these states has seen anti-Semitic rhetoric against candidates in the run-up to the mid-terms.
Ohio. New York. Georgia. Each of these states has seen anti-Semitic ads against candidates in the tense days leading up to today’s election.
In Ohio, radio listeners heard Jim Condit Jr., running in the 2nd congressional district against Republican Brad Wenstrup, spout about “billionaire Communist Jews,” controlling both the media and the election vendors in order to steal the vote. Condit is running under the Green Party, which has disavowed him.
Cincinnati’s WLW, which airs the ad, said it wished it could take it down, but FCC rules prevent it from doing so. “We really don’t have much of a choice. The only way people can do something about that is to write the FCC and change the law. We don’t like carrying it,” Scott Reinhart, program manager for WLW-AM told Cincinnati’s The Enquirer.
In Florida, anti-Semitic robocalls attacked Andrew Gillum, who’s running for governor. The calls were funded by an apparently white supremacist and anti-Semitic podcasting site, TheRoadtoPower.com.
The same group funded a robocall in Georgia attacking Democratic candidate for governor Stacey Abrams, who is running against the Republican candidate, Georgia’s Secretary of State Brian Kemp. This ad mocks Oprah Winfrey, who campaigned for Abrams on the same day Vice President Mike Pence campaigned for Kemp.
Abrams, according to RealClear Politics, is down in the polls by almost 3 percent.
New York’s congressional race in Suffolk County has seen anti-Semitic vandalism.
Both Jewish candidates running in N.Y.’s 1st district, GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin and Democratic challenger Perry Gershon, have had campaign signs defaced. On Sunday, swastikas were sprayed on Gershon’s signs. Zeldin’s signs also have been vandalized and torn down, he says.