Zioness Statement on Republican and Democratic Primary Results Rejecting Bigotry:
On Tuesday, amidst this national moment of great pain and introspection, we saw glimmers of hope that Americans will no longer tolerate bigots in positions of higher office.
Steve King, a Republican, and Valerie Plame, a Democrat, lost their primary races for the United States House of Representatives, in large part because both have openly and repeatedly expressed intolerant, dangerous and conspiratorial views.
Steve King, a nine-term Republican congressman from Iowa, has a long history of racism and antisemitism that includes supporting candidates and political parties with neo-Nazi roots and ties. He has publicly questioned why white supremacy and white nationalism are offensive, and has repeatedly made inflammatory, racist, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim remarks.
Valerie Plame, a former CIA operative who ran as a Democrat in New Mexico’s third congressional district primary, has a track record of perpetuating deeply disturbing antisemitic conspiracy theories, most notoriously when she tweeted an article entitled “America’s Jews are Driving America’s Wars”. She has doubled down repeatedly on the “dual loyalty” trope, accusing Jews of influencing the “neocon” agenda by pushing Americans into deadly foreign conflicts to protect Israel.
Even in this tumultuous time, there is a profound message coming from Tuesday’s election results: we can use our voices and our constitutionally protected right to vote to defeat and dismantle bigotry, racism, and antisemitism, wherever it manifests—whether on the right or the left. Now, more than ever, hate cannot be given any platform—in the United States Congress, in our law enforcement agencies, in our schools, our homes, our political parties, or anywhere else in our society.
Please make sure you are registered to vote. Get an absentee or mail-in ballot, or commit to safely going to a poll to make your voice heard. Democracy is an experiment, and there is an unprecedented need to show up to protect it.