Texas Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico has endorsed Johnny Garcia for the state’s 35th Congressional District, where Democrats are stepping up efforts to block a rival who made anti-Semitic comments ahead of next week’s runoff election.
“Garcia was born and raised in a working-class family in San Antonio and is a deputy sheriff with a proven record of protecting the communities he represents,” Talarico said in a statement first reported by CNN. “Garcia knows how to fight for working-class Texans because he is a working-class Texan, and his proven leadership is exactly what Congress needs.”
The endorsement is part of a broader effort to defeat sex therapist Maureen Galindo, who has been condemned by members of both parties for anti-Semitic comments.
Last week, she posted on her campaign Instagram account that if elected, she would turn the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center into a “prison for human trafficking by American Zionists and former ICE officials.”
Galindo denied her comments were anti-Semitic. She said in a statement Wednesday that her “proposal for the Kearns Detention Center was never about Zionists, but about billionaire Zionists regardless of their religious beliefs. If they were in business for genocidal prison state material or had evidence of pedophilia in the Epstein dossier, they should be tried.”
Democrats across the country are alarmed by the possibility that Galindo, the first-place finisher in the district’s March 3 primary, could win the May 26 runoff. Galindo benefited from nearly $1 million in spending by Lead Left PAC, according to recent Federal Election Commission filings. Punchbowl News previously reported that there was a link to the Republican fundraising platform WinRed in the metadata of the PAC’s website, and Democrats condemned the PAC’s spending.
CNN has reached out to Lead Left PAC for comment.
Last year, Texas Republicans redrawn the 35th District as part of a nationwide redistricting plan, changing it from a majority Democratic seat to one that voted for President Donald Trump by a 10-point margin, according to a CNN analysis.
“It’s really all or nothing, and if we allow her to win, our opponents will only hurt our party and take us over the cliff,” Garcia told CNN.
He added that Talarico “understands the importance of this game and we can’t let it slip from our hands when we know we can see a win in November.”
Democrats across the country, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Blue Dog Alliance, have rallied behind Garcia, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office public information officer. Democratic leaders also condemned Galindo’s comments.
Talarico told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency last week that he would not run with Galindo if she won the nomination, adding that both parties must have leaders “willing to stand up and call out hate.”
Democratic Reps. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Jared Moskowitz of Florida vowed that “we are here every day” to force a vote to expel her from Congress if she is elected.
“Maureen’s insane, anti-Semitic views – which include putting Americans in concentration camps – have no place in our party or our country,” they wrote in a statement released Wednesday.
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