Rep. Josh Gottheimer rebukes Texas Democrat for her ‘insane, antisemitic views’

Rep. Josh Gottheimer is taking aim at a Texas Democratic congressional candidate who said she’d jail “American Zionists,” with Gottheimer saying if she ends up joining him in the House of Representatives he’d force a daily vote to expel her.

Gottheimer (D-05) made the threat in a joint statement Wednesday with Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida. Gottheimer had previously said the comments from the Texas candidate, Maureen Galindo, were “straight out of the Nazi playbook.”

“If for some reason, Maureen Galindo wins the Congressional election in TX-35, as soon as she is sworn in, we will force a vote to expel her every single day we are here,” the two congressmen said. “Maureen’s insane, antisemitic views — including putting Americans in concentration camps — have no place in our Party or country.”

Galindo, a sex therapist, finished first in the March Democratic primary for Texas’ 35th Congressional District, and will face fellow Democrat Johnny Garcia, a county sheriff’s deputy, in the runoff election scheduled for May 26.

Galindo said on Instagram last week that if elected to the House, she would introduce legislation to “turn Karnes ICE Detention Center into a prison for American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking.” She’s also called Zionists pedophiles and said Jews worship the “synagogue of Satan.”

Her comments have drawn widespread criticism, including from Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who said “this bigoted garbage and antisemitism should be nowhere near our politics.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called her language “disqualifying.”

Galindo’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. She responded to the general criticism in an Instagram video she posted Tuesday.

“When I say that I want billionaire Zionists in prison, that does not mean I want Jews in internment camps,” she said. “If you are a Zionist, meaning that you believe that you are just entitled to land or someone’s just entitled to land based off of religious beliefs, and that you’ll kill all of the Semites for it, then yeah, I think that you’re a danger to humanity and belong in prison. Especially if you have the political and economic resources to make that happen.”

Last week Gottheimer published an opinion piece in the New York Times arguing that Democrats are quick to condemn right-wing hate while going silent when antisemitism comes from the left. Gottheimer is the only Jewish member of New Jersey’s congressional delegation.

“Today, too many Democrats are noticeably and shamefully silent when antisemitism comes from the far left — at a moment when the Anti-Defamation League is reporting a surge of antisemitic incidents in the past three years. It’s a glaring double standard,” he wrote. “Hate is hate. It doesn’t get a pass because it comes from your side of the aisle.”