Texas Democratic candidate condemned for comments about ‘prison for American Zionists’

A Democratic House candidate in Texas is facing bipartisan condemnation and accusations of antisemitism after she said she wanted to turn an immigration detention facility into a “prison for American Zionists” if elected – leaving Democrats scrambling to ostracize her from the party and alleging that conservative groups may be propping up her campaign.

Maureen Galindo is running against Johnny Garcia in next week’s Democratic primary for Texas’s 35th congressional district, which covers parts of San Antonio and portions of the surrounding counties. The district was once solid blue and is currently represented by a Democrat, but the race remains highly competitive after being made much more favorable to the GOP following Texas Republicans’ mid-decade redistricting efforts last summer.

Last week Galindo wrote on Instagram that if elected to Congress, she would write a bill to declare that Zionism is antisemitic, and would “turn Karnes ICE Detention Center into a prison for American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking. (It will also be a castration processing center for pedophiles which will probably be most of the Zionists)”.

The next day, Galindo told a local radio station that she was not antisemitic, but opposed to “Zionist Jews”. She also said Garcia and others supported by pro-Israel groups should be “tried for treason”.

Democrats allege that a mysterious political action committee (Pac), Lead Left Pac, which was founded less than a month ago and has spent more than $900,000 promoting Galindo, is a GOP attempt to ensure that their candidate in the district faces a weak opponent in November.

The group, which is the biggest single spender in the Democratic primary runoff and has yet to reveal its donors, has put more than $600,000 toward ads, according to the tracking firm AdImpact. Federal campaign finance filings show it is also spending on mail.

Links to the GOP fundraising website WinRed were removed from its website’s metadata after Punchbowl News reported on it several weeks ago. The group also ran ads in Democratic primaries in Pennsylvania and Nebraska earlier this month.

Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, and Suzan DelBene, a representative who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement that Galindo’s comments were “extremely dangerous”, “vile” and had “no place in Democratic politics”.

“To embrace and uplift a fringe candidate with antisemitic – and extremely dangerous – rhetoric and views in order to win an election is beyond the pale,” they added. “House Republican leadership must immediately cease propping up this antisemitic candidacy, pull spending in the race and forcefully condemn these comments.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic representative, slammed Galindo’s comments as “bigoted garbage and antisemitism”. She added that “the donors behind the Republican Super Pac funding her should be exposed”.

Representatives Josh Gottheimer and Jared Moskowitz said in a joint statement: “If, for some reason, Maureen Galindo wins ... as soon as she is sworn in, we will force a vote to expel her every day she is here.” They added: “Maureen’s insane, antisemitic views – including putting Americans in concentration camps – have no place in our party or country.”

Garcia said Galindo was “pushing conspiracy theories and hateful rhetoric”, adding: “That’s why Republicans are spending to boost her campaign … they see her as the easy opponent to beat this November.” Texas’s most prominent Democrat, James Talarico, who is running for a Senate seat, endorsed Garcia and told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he would not campaign with Galindo.

Asked about allegations that Republicans have backed Galindo, Mike Johnson, the House speaker, told reporters on Wednesday: “Of course not. I didn’t even know this person existed. I don’t know anything about it, except that these crazy comments surfaced yesterday … and I thought this is a perfect example of where the Democratic party is going. We say all the time: this is not your father’s Democratic Party.”

Galindo did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A statement on her campaign website reads: “Maureen NEVER said that she wants anyone in internment camps!! She never said ‘internment camps’; that was a very unethical journalist desperate to take her down through a screenshottable article title.

“She does want Karnes ICE facility to be turned into a prison for the billionaire zionists who have profited off genocidal prison state materials and trafficking. Prosecution has nothing to do with religion - they could be Evangelical, Catholic, Mormon, Jewish, etc.

“It’s also true she wants a whole department and tv channel of exposing pedophiles and yes, sending them for castration at Karnes Prison, then moved to prisons with violent criminals.”

The statement ended saying that Galindo wanted to her from people in the district about ideas for a name for the facility.

Galindo, a former sex therapist, finished first in the primary in March and will compete in the runoff election against Garcia, a former sheriff’s deputy, on Tuesday.