A Democratic House candidate in Texas who said she wanted to turn a local immigrant detention center into a facility to imprison and castrate “American Zionists” has Democrats scrambling to distance the party from her and accusing Republicans of behind-the-scenes interference in the race.
The contest is happening in a congressional district that Texas lawmakers redrew last year to favor Republicans but that Democrats think can still be won as President Donald Trump’s approval rating plunges. The candidate, Maureen Galindo, finished first among four in the March Democratic primary and is competing in Tuesday’s runoff.
Now, Democrats are trying to ostracize her, and Republicans are trying to cast her as a posterchild for rising antisemitism on the left.
In a post on X lambasting the remarks as “despicable,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) questioned whether Democrats would respond, or “are they content to let their entire party turn into a hotbed of antisemitism?” he wrote.
Democratic leaders did condemn her forcefully — and sought to flip the outrage against the right. They are accusing Republicans of using a shadowy political action committee to boost Galindo’s chances of advancing to the general election to give the GOP a weak opponent.
The Lead Left PAC has spent more than $900,000 since early May to support Galindo, according to its disclosures, but has yet to reveal donors. Metadata on its website included links to a Republican campaign-donation processor, but those references were removed after Punchbowl News first reported it. The PAC, which has also poured money into Democratic primaries in Nebraska and Pennsylvania, is facing a legal challenge over how it has reported its spending.
“To embrace and uplift a fringe candidate with antisemitic — and extremely dangerous — rhetoric and views in order to win an election is beyond the pale,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) said in a statement with Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Washington), who leads the House Democrats’ campaign operation.
Lead Left PAC did not respond to requests for comment to an email address listed on its filings. The campaign organization for House Republicans declined to comment when asked whether it was involved with the group.
“They’re hypocrites,” Brian Romick, president of the Democratic Majority for Israel PAC — which is supporting Galindo’s opponent, Johnny Garcia — said of Republicans. “Plain and simple.”
Democrats have also elevated far-right candidates they saw as easier to beat. In 2022, a Washington Post analysis found that Democrats had spent $19 million across primaries in eight states to amplify candidates who questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election results.
Galindo said she had “zero idea about the PAC.”
“I’m just continuing my grassroots effort,” she wrote in an email. She did not respond to a request for an interview.
In an Instagram post on Thursday, she said that she “never said I want Jews in internment camps” but did want to imprison “billionaire American Zionists” for “funding genocidal prison systems.”
Galindo, a sex therapist and activist who received 29 percent of the vote in the March primary, is facing off against Garcia, a former sheriff’s deputy who is currently the spokesperson for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. He received 27 percent of the vote.
For months, Galindo has positioned herself as an antiestablishment candidate who speaks openly about thorny topics, including Israel’s war in Gaza. She has also pledged to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
This fiery brand probably made Galindo appealing to voters, said John Lira, who lost to her in the primary and endorsed her in the runoff.
“I was following her on Instagram before I even knew it was her who had joined our race for Texas 35 just because of some of the content she was producing,” Lira said. “She was calling out people.”
At the time, Lira said he wasn’t aware of any antisemitic comments from her, though Israel and its war in Gaza were a sticking point in the race.
Galindo has repeatedly described the war as a “genocide” and criticized Garcia for taking money from pro-Israel groups. Her rhetoric intensely criticized as antisemitic did not come to light until months after the primary, and Lira has since withdrawn his endorsement.
On May 13, Galindo wrote on Instagram that if elected to Congress, she would write a bill to declare that Zionism is antisemitic, and she would convert an ICE detention center located in her district into a prison with a “castration processing center” for “American Zionists” and former ICE officers. She has said she is not antisemitic.
The next day, Galindo told a local radio station that Garcia and others supported by pro-Israel groups should be “tried for treason.”
Israel and antisemitism have been among the thorniest issues in the midterms. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) lost to a primary challenger this week after pro-Israel groups spent millions to unseat him. He and his allies have sharply criticized their influence since.
Galindo’s comments were notable because of how extreme they were coming from a serious candidate in a somewhat competitive area that Trump won by 10 points in 2024.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York) called Galindo’s remarks a “heinous antisemitic statement.”
“Every elected Democrat needs to publicly condemn this immediately,” she said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) described the comments as “bigoted garbage and antisemitism,” and called for voters to support Garcia, who said Republicans had “no shame” about supporting Galindo’s “antisemitic conspiracy theories.”
James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate race in Texas, also endorsed Garcia and said he would not campaign with Galindo if she won. The Texas Democratic Party and the chairs of the parties in the 35th Congressional District condemned Galindo’s remarks.
Republicans are relishing the Texas race’s frenzy.
Christian Martinez, spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee to elect House Republicans, said Galindo and Garcia were “tearing each other apart in a full-blown primary civil war, turning their own races into a circular firing squad while Republicans stay focused on the issues Texans care about and build the coalition that’s going to win in November.”
Todd Wallack contributed to this report.
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