Jewish candidates clutching cash theme appears in GOP attack ads in 6 states
Published November 6, 2018
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Republicans in Alaska, Washington state, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and California have run ads showing Jewish Democrats handling cash.
The Washington Post on Tuesday reported that the Washington State Republican Party sent voters fliers depicting congressional candidate Kim Schrier with a wad of cash in her hand.
In Alaska, Republican Women of Juneau ran an ad targeting state senator Jesse Kiehl, showing a man sticking a wad of cash into his inner jacket pocket.
In North Carolina, the state Republican Party ran an online ad denouncing what it called the Democrats’ radical agenda It featured Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the Senate minority leader, clutching a wad of cash. Neither Hillary Clinton, the party’s 2016 presidential nominee, nor Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D.-Calif., are shown with cash.
The Juneau Republican group did not return calls from the Post seeking comment. The Washington and North Carolina state parties denied anti-Semitic intent, but did not say whether they had run similar ads against non-Jewish candidates.
In Pennsylvania, State Rep. Todd Stephens ran a TV ad featuring challenger Sara Johnson Rothman clutching a wad of cash. Rothman’s husband is Jewish. The illustration dropped her maiden name, Johnson, although she routinely uses it.
Additionally, a Stephens mailer depicts a woman receiving a wad of cash from a donor. Johnson Rothman serves on the Upper Dublin school board in suburban Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia Inquirer quoted Stephens as denying anti-Semitic intent. It quoted a spokeswoman for the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia as saying that she did not perceive anti-Semitism but also quoted the president of the city’s Board of Rabbis as saying the ad was “disturbing” and used, inadvertently or not, anti-Semitic tropes.
Previously reported were ads targeting Jewish Democrats for state office in California and Connecticut that depicted the candidates clutching wads of cash. The California Republican state legislature candidate who ran the ad denied anti-Semitic intent; so did the Connecticut Republican, although he apologized said he recognized how his ad could be seen as anti-Semitic.
