NRCC withdraws support for New Jersey congressional candidate and right-wing pundit Seth Grossman over bigoted remarks

Media Matters and others documented numerous bigoted statements from the Republican

Written by Eric Hananoki

Published

The National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) today withdrew its support for New Jersey congressional candidate Seth Grossman, a right-wing pundit who has repeatedly made bigoted remarks.

Grossman is the Republican nominee for New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District. He is a lawyer who has also done stints as a radio host and newspaper columnist. Grossman received the NRCC’s backing on June 6 after he won his Republican primary contest (the Republican organization has since removed a statement about the endorsement from its website).

As Politico’s Zach Montellaro reported, NRCC Chairman Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH) issued a statement today saying, in part: “Bigotry has no place in society -- let alone the U.S. House of Representatives. The NRCC withdraws our support of Seth Grossman and calls on him to reconsider his candidacy."

The statement was released hours after Media Matters reported that Grossman promoted white nationalist propaganda. In December 2014, he endorsed an openly racist piece on the white nationalist website American Renaissance that claimed Black people “are different by almost any measure to all other people. They cannot reason as well. They cannot communicate as well. They cannot control their impulses as well. They are a threat to all who cross their paths, black and non-black alike.”

In 2010, Grossman also promoted a piece on the white nationalist website VDare. In comments to Media Matters, Grossman distanced himself from those links and claimed that he hadn’t visited those sites (despite sharing links to and commenting on them).

On June 11, American Bridge 21st Century PAC released a video of Grossman saying in April, “The whole idea of diversity is a bunch of crap and un-American.” (American Bridge founder David Brock is also the founder of Media Matters.)

Media Matters also reported on June 12 that Grossman posted other bigoted and racist remarks about Black and Muslim people before running for Congress. Grossman claimed:

  • “Blacks were not enslaved by whites. They were enslaved by other blacks and then sold to whites. … I do know of many Africans who wish their ancestors had been taken to America as slaves.”
  • “Fifty years of welfare programs, public and college ‘education’, and media and Hollywood pop culture run by ‘progressive’ Democrats did far more long term damage to blacks in America than 230 years of slavery.”
  • “Democrats today constantly talk of wrongs done by some whites to some blacks more than a hundred years ago. The purpose is for blacks to blame whites for their problems instead of the liberal officials and policies that are truly responsible.”
  • “Islam has nothing in common with other modern world religions like Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, or Hinduism.”
  • "Islam is a cancer. The fact that it already infected a billion people is even more reason to fight it every way we can.”
  • “Why are we inviting thousands of Muslim immigrants to our towns and neighborhoods when we are in the middle of a war with Islam?” (Grossman similarly shared a graphic that attacked then-President Barack Obama for having “flooded our cities with Muslims.”)

CNN’s Nathan McDermott, Andrew Kaczynski, and Chris Massie reported on June 22 that Grossman “has said diversity leads to Muslims killing Christians and that Kwanzaa is a fake holiday made by black racists to divide America,” among other remarks.

As media outlets have reported, numerous Republican candidates for office have had a problematic relationship with white nationalism.