Washington D.C., DC – A group of Jewish first-year lawmakers are calling on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to censure Rep. Paul Gosar, a far-right Republican from Arizona. They made the demand in response to reports that Gosar employs staffers who are ardent followers of Nick Fuentes, a prominent white supremacist and Holocaust denier.
“We’re asking that you stand as an ally to the Jewish people at home and that you take a strong stand against the antisemitism and white supremacy flourishing in your own party,” the Democratic House members wrote in a letter published on Wednesday. The signatories are Reps. Dan Goldman of New York, Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island, Becca Balint of Vermont, Jared Moskowitz of Florida and Greg Landsman of Ohio, who were elected last year to Congress.
Gosar faced backlash in recent days after Talking Points Memo and the Arizona Republic reported that two of his staffers, Wade Searle and Landen Petersen, anonymously operated social media accounts called the “Groyper army,” promoting white supremacist content and using antisemitic stereotypes that disparaged Jewish people.
“The presence of proud neo-Nazis is a threat to people of color and Jewish Americans who work here at the Capitol as well as the people we serve,” said Balint, whose grandfather was murdered in the Holocaust.
Alan Zeichick, chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix, called on the House leadership to “unequivocally denounce” Gosar’s behavior. “This certainly isn’t the first time Rep. Gosar has embraced neo-Nazis,” he said. “We presume it won’t be the last.”
