The candidate, Marjorie Taylor Greene, finished first in last week's primary for an open, safe GOP seat in Georgia but still faces an August runoff for the nomination.
The House’s highest-ranking Republicans are racing to distance themselves from a leading GOP congressional candidate in Georgia after POLITICO uncovered hours of Facebook videos in which she expresses racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic views.
Now GOP lawmakers, aides and operatives fear Greene — a wealthy businesswoman who has already drawn national attention because of her belief in a trove of QAnon conspiracy theories — could create an even bigger black eye for the party if she wins the nomination. Greene will face neurosurgeon John Cowan in the Aug. 11 primary runoff.
When asked for comment on quotes from the videos, Greene campaign manager Isaiah Wartman did not deny their veracity but declined to elaborate. “I know a ton of white people that are as lazy and sorry and probably worse than black people,” she said. “And that has everything to do with their bad choices and their personal responsibility. That is not a skin-color issue.”
The top three House GOP leaders, as well as the head of the party’s campaign arm, denounced Greene’s rhetoric upon learning from POLITICO of her derogatory comments about blacks, Muslims and Jews. Despite Greene’s penchant for controversy — she has already faced public criticism for taking a photo with a white supremacist, floating a conspiracy theory that the Las Vegas shooting massacre was a plot to abolish the Second Amendment and calling one of the student activists from Parkland high school “little Hitler”— Greene has earned some congressional support.
“This isn’t something that happened 10 years ago, when she said something out of context,” Scott said in an interview. Greene blamed the country’s racial wounds on “identity politics” and President Barack Obama, who, she said, won black voters only because of “the color of his skin.” She also suggested that’s why Obama identifies as black, even though he is “half-white” and “American,” Greene noted.
She said Muslims “are not being held back in any way” because the Constitution guarantees equality. “But what you people want,” she said, “is special treatment. You want to rise above us, and that’s what we’re against.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Republican Leaders Denounce GOP House Candidate For Racist Videos: ReportMarjorie Greene, a Qanon conspiracy believer, drew headlines last week when she finished a strong first in a U.S. House primary in Georgia.
Read more »
Senate GOP to introduce police reform bill as House Democrats move forward on competing legislationSenate Republicans on Wednesday will introduce a sweeping police reform package, the GOP's legislative response to George Floyd's death and nationwide protests over police brutality and racism.
Read more »
Senate GOP Unveils Police Reform Bill, Setting Up Clash With House DemocratsI cover national politics for Forbes. Previously, I've written for TIME, Newsweek, the New York Daily News and VICE News. I also launched my own startup, Newsreel, a politics news platform for a young audience.
Read more »
Senate GOP Unveils Police Reform Bill, Setting Up Clash With House DemocratsI cover national politics for Forbes. Previously, I've written for TIME, Newsweek, the New York Daily News and VICE News. I also launched my own startup, Newsreel, a politics news platform for a young audience.
Read more »
GOP and Democrats clash over police reform in Congress as pressure for action mountsHouse Democrats and Senate Republicans are on a collision course over policing reform, despite a bipartisan consensus that action is necessary amid nationwide protests and civil unrest in response to high-profile episodes of police misconduct.
Read more »