Politics
GOP leaders denounce antisemitism in their ranks but shift blame to Democrats
LAS VEGAS — Republican Jews acknowledged antisemitism is cropping up in their movement during a conference this weekend, but were quick to blame left-leaning Democrats for fanning the flames.
At the Republican Jewish Coalition leadership summit, a string of recent high-profile antisemitic incidents — including a skirmish this week featuring Tucker Carlson and the Heritage Foundation — cast a long shadow. Even as many speakers denounced antisemitism among conservatives and said the GOP must root it out, nearly all their condemnations were quickly qualified by criticism of Democrats.
“Republicans have a cold, and Democrats have a fever,” Ari Fleischer, a former White House press secretary and RJC board member, told reporters. “And Republicans are fighting the cold.”
The group’s summit, held annually at The Venetian Expo, the late casino magnate and GOP donor Sheldon Adelson’s convention center, occurs this year as the Republican Party is facing a barrage of pro-Nazi and pro-Hitler incidents within its ranks. Last month, a nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel withdrew his nomination after bragging of his “Nazi streak” in a text message; days earlier, Blue Light News reported on a leaked group chat of Young Republicans who praised Hitler and joked about the Holocaust. The same week, a Nazi symbol was discovered hanging in a GOP Congressional office.
Then, this week, Carlson hosted Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes on his podcast; the guest claimed the “big challenge” to unifying the country was “organized Jewry.” Carlson, a former Fox News host who retains a large following, said Republican Israel supporters suffer from a “brain virus.”
RJC speakers took aim at Carlson starting on the conference’s opening night. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Thursday he has “seen more antisemitism on the right” in the past six months “than I have in my entire life.”
“If you sit there with someone who says Adolf Hitler was very, very cool, and that their mission is to combat and defeat global Jewry, and you say nothing, then you are (a) coward and you are complicit in that evil,” Cruz said.
But many speakers downplayed the concern, saying antisemitism is relegated to the fringes of the GOP.
Matt Brooks, CEO of the hosting organization, told reports that antisemitism is “a very small, limited problem in our party.” On Saturday, RJC staffers gave attendees large placards reading “TUCKER IS NOT MAGA” to wave, suggesting that Carlson’s antisemitic views stand apart from the GOP mainstream. Rep. David Kustoff (R-Tenn.), the longest serving Republican Jew in Congress, emphasized in his speech that antisemitism is an issue on the “fringes” of the Republican Party, and suggested that legacy conservative institutions like the Heritage Foundation are removed from the party’s mainstream.
“Heritage has to decide whether, in fact, they’re going to be a serious conservative movement and think tank and resource for all of us, or whether they’re going to pray to the fringes,” Kustoff said in an interview.
Even Rep. Randy Fine (R-Florida), who denounced Carlson as “the most dangerous antisemite in America” in his speech, said in an interview that antisemitism is “still on the fringes” in his party.
“But if we don’t deal with it, it could metastasize, like we’ve seen with the Democrats,” Fine said. “And I’m not willing to be a part of that.”
The string of antisemitic incidents among Republicans in recent weeks has caused some top Jewish GOP donors to double down. “Antisemitism isn’t a ‘right-wing’ problem — it’s a human one, festering across the spectrum,” said Y. David Scharf, a GOP megadonor and grandson of Holocaust survivors. He noted the incidents “don’t shake my support for the RNC or GOP candidates — they fuel it.”
“The party’s swift suspension of that Young Republicans chapter shows accountability,” he added. “I will back those who fight hate decisively.”
Even so, the antisemitic incidents have yet to garner explicit condemnations from President Donald Trump or Vice President J.D. Vance, a fact RJC officials and Republican lawmakers downplayed in interviews. “This is a decision every elected official gets to make,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) told reporters, when asked about Vance’s dismissal of Young Republicans’ rhetoric as “edgy, offensive jokes.”
“I believe the Republican Party stands for Israel. I believe we stand against antisemitism,” Scott said.
Unless Trump, Vance and other Republican leaders condemn the incidents, it will only continue to fester, said Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. “If the president himself and Republicans were serious about combating antisemitism, they would condemn it when it emerges in their own ranks. And they do not,” Soifer said in an interview last week. “There’s a permission structure within the Republican Party, and it comes from the top.”
Joe Gruters, the chair of the Republican National Committee, mentioned antisemitism nine times throughout his speech Saturday, all in reference to universities or the political left. “Antisemitism has found a home in the Democrat Party,” he said.
Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) agreed, adding, “Let’s face it: Antisemitism is running wild on the progressive left,”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the highest ranking Jewish senator, encouraged Republicans to look inward, writing on social media Thursday, “Every person who has aligned itself with the Heritage Foundation, including elected officials, must disavow this dangerous mainstreaming of these hateful ideologies.”
CORRECTION: Matt Brooks’ name was incorrect in an earlier version of this article.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Supreme Court ruled Monday that a man with the same nameand party affiliation as Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan is qualified to run for the seat and ordered elections officials to place him on the August primary ballot.
The ruling came hours after the court heard arguments and just days after state court Judge Thomas Matthews found the Division of Elections had “abused its discretion”in booting the challenger Sullivan from the ballot. The Supreme Court, in a brief ruling, affirmed Matthews’ decision to include the challenger on the ballot but sent back to the division the issue of how he should be listed as a candidate “within the confines of existing Alaska ballot design law.”
The court said a full opinion explaining its decision would be released later.
Jeffrey Robinson, an attorney for the challenger Sullivan, expressed gratitude for the ruling and said he expected the division “will act in full compliance” with ballot design law in preparing the ballots. Sam Curtis, a spokesperson for the state Department of Law, said the state appreciated the quick ruling “and will work to implement the order.”
Nate Adams, a spokesperson for Sen. Sullivan’s campaign, said while disappointed by the ruling, the campaign is encouraged that Beecher “will be able to use her expertise to differentiate between the Petersburg fraud and the incumbent — Senator Dan Sullivan — to the benefit of Alaska voters.”
Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher issued a decision June 15 finding the challenger’s candidacy was not filed in good faith and instead was done with an intent to confuse voters. But Matthews said Beecher’s decision was not based on the requirements set out by the U.S. Constitution to serve in the Senate — which address age, citizenship and residency — or on state laws or regulations.
Alaska’s US Senate race could help determine control of chamber
The dust-up over the two Dan Sullivans began with the challenger filing his candidacy about a month ago and has roiled one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country. Alaska’s race is one of about a half dozen Senate contests that are considered competitive and could determine control of the chamber for President Donald Trump’s final two years in office.
The candidate filing prompted accusations by the senator and his alliesincluding the National Republican Senatorial Committee, that the challenger is a sham candidate intent on sowing chaos. Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who oversees elections, responded by announcing an investigation into the challenger’s candidacy.
Two complaints raising questions about his party affiliation and motives were filed by the Alaska Republican Party chair.
The senator also accused the challenger Sullivan of working with Democrats and the campaign of Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola to cause confusion. Peltola’s campaign and state Democrats have denied the allegation, as has the challenger, who said the decision to run was “my choice.”
Peltola is seen as the senator’s main rival in the race, which features more than a dozen candidates.
The top four vote-getters in the primary, regardless of party affiliation, advance to a ranked choice general election in November.
The challenger Sullivan, 69, a retired teacher from the small fishing community of Petersburg, told The Associated Press on Monday he had grown frustrated with the incumbent and thought the timing for a run was right. “I just decided it was something I needed to do,” he said. “I will find out if it was the right thing or not, but I’m going to give it a shot.”
He said he aims to pull votes from the senator, as any challenger would. “But no, I’m not trying to trick people,” he told the AP.
Arguments before the state Supreme Court
Attorneys for the challenger Sullivanin filings before the state Supreme Court, said the elections division disqualified their client “because of what it thought were his reasons for running.” They called the good-faith standard applied by Beecher “legally unsupportable.”
Matthews agreed in his decision Friday to allow Sullivan on the ballot, saying, the elections division determination “was based upon a new, previously unstated, ‘good-faith’ criteria.”
Beecher, in disqualifying the challenger Sullivan, said he had registered to vote as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. and in conjunction with his candidacy changed his party affiliation to Republican, an affiliation he did not previously had. She cited similarities between his campaign website and the senator’s, and his work with a consultant whose clients have included some Democrats. She did not mention finding any evidence of coordination.
Attorneys general from 14 Republican-led states submitted a brief supporting the division and asking the state Supreme Court to keep the challenger Sullivan off the ballot.
The division initially certified both Sullivans as candidates, identifying the challenger as Dan J. Sullivan and the incumbent as Dan S. Sullivan.
Debate over ballot design
Attorneys representing the state, in their filings, said using a middle initial on the ballot would not be enough to help voters distinguish between the two Sullivans. They asked the court to uphold Beecher’s finding.
But if the court ordered the challenger Sullivan on the ballot, they proposed he be listed as Daniel James Sullivan Jr. with a nonpartisan party affiliation — arguing the division believed it could deny him being labeled a Republican since he had no prior affiliation with that party before running. The attorneys, led by outside counsel Christopher Murray, proposed in their brief that the senator be listed as Dan Sullivan, registered Republican and incumbent.
Attorneys for the challenger said any proposal to list their client as “nonpartisan” would be unlawful because Alaska law allows him to be listed according to his party preference. It proposed he be listed on the ballot as Dan J. Sullivan, a Republican.
They said the senator could ensure his supporters are aware of his middle initial and that the state’s candidate information pamphlet, which is sent to voters, also could help address any confusion.
At least one outside group supporting the senator has been running ads and sending political mailers referring to him as Sen. Dan S. Sullivan.
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