Due in part to an influx of infrequent Democratic voters who were drawn in by the U.S. Senate primary between state Rep. James Talarico and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Democrat Maureen Galindo, a sex therapist and housing advocate, placed first in the March 3 primary for a House seat in Texas' 35th Congressional District, despite spending just a few thousand dollars on her campaign.
She has been critical of Israel while her primary rival, Bexar County Sheriff's Deputy Johnny Garcia, has been backed by a pro-Israel group.
Today's runoff election has become a referendum on Galindo's recent call for the imprisonment of "American Zionists" and for transforming U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities into jails for that purpose. Galindo denies that her remarks are antisemitic, but even her own party is hoping she does not win and jeopardize their chances in the district by tying them to rhetoric they have denounced.
Some House Democrats even say they would force a vote to expel her if she prevails in the runoff and against the winner of the Republican runoff between John Lujan and Carlos De La Cruz in the November general election.
Though one Jewish American recently told AFN he sees some steps being taken in the right direction on the issue, rising antisemitism was the topic of discussion when "The Faulkner Focus" hosted Republican Congressman Byron Donalds (Florida) and Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer (New Jersey) last week.
"I think what you're starting to see are people who are living online way too much, who are buying into these conspiracy theories as if the Jewish people are running America's foreign policy, running the United States of America overall," Donalds stated.
Donalds, who is running for governor of Florida, also said he believes there are foreign countries using American social media to destabilize the nation's political foundations.
Gottheimer agreed.
"You've got Iran, North Korea, China, Russia very aggressively online trying to drive wedges in our country," he observed. "They use TikTok and other platforms to do it."
The New Jersey congressman also went after the school system for pushing hateful material to young people, though he praised Vanderbilt, Emory, and universities in Florida for attacking this issue.
Gottheimer agrees with his fellow Democrats who say Galindo's behavior has no place in the Democratic Party.
