Republican leaders who had been hoping to win back a Central Valley congressional district in California have removed their support from their candidate after the discovery of more Islamphobic and racist social media posts.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports the National Republican Congressional Committee withdrew its endorsement of Ted Howze. Howze will be in a runoff for the seat now held by Rep. Josh Harder (D- Stanislaus County, CA).
The sudden move came after a Politico story uncovered posts which compared dreamers to pedophiles, asserted that Muslims could not be good American citizens and blamed the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting which left 49 people dead on Muslims. He also said Blacks are being held as “political slaves” by the Democrats.
Howze denied responsibility for the posts which he said were written by others who he gave access to his social media accounts.
“These statements are unacceptable and not indicative of the Republican Party and what we are building here at the NRCC with our diverse slate of candidates. We have pulled our support,” Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), the NRCC chairman, said in a statement made available to The Hill.
“The content in question on Mr. Howze’s social media channels is disappointing and disturbing,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said in a statement. “Bigotry and hateful rhetoric — in any form — have no place in the Republican Party. These posts are unacceptable and do not reflect the Mr. Howze that I have briefly interacted with.”
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