{"id":799804,"date":"2026-05-16T04:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T04:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/799804\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T04:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T04:44:10","slug":"talarico-condemns-candidate-calling-for-a-prison-for-american-zionists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/799804\/","title":{"rendered":"Talarico condemns candidate calling for \u2018a prison for American Zionists’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maureen Galindo, the housing activist and conspiracy theorist whose rants about \u201cbillionaire Zionists\u201d have defined her pursuit of a US House seat in Texas<\/a>, is within spitting distance of winning a Democratic runoff in a competitive San Antonio-area district.<\/p>\n

But if Galindo becomes the nominee, she\u2019ll be without the support of the state\u2019s most prominent Democrat: US Senate candidate James Talarico.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis antisemitic<\/a> rhetoric has no place in our politics. We need leadership in both parties willing to stand up and call out hate wherever it rears its ugly head,\u201d the Texas state representative, whose own surging campaign has garnered national attention, said in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency when asked about Galindo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Talarico\u2019s campaign confirmed to JTA that he would not campaign with Galindo if she wins her May 26 runoff, in a district Democrats are hoping to flip following Republican-led redistricting in the state.<\/p>\n

Talarico, a pastor, has sought to carve out a lane for himself as a religious progressive. While his interactions with the Jewish community have been minimal, his rejection of Galindo comes after he swore off support from the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC and expressed criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Galindo presents extreme antisemitism in left-wing politics<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a forceful rebuke of an outsider candidate who has quickly personified an extreme in antisemitic rhetoric among Democrats, as the party, caught up in hopes for a \u201cblue wave\u201d in the midterms, is also facing a delicate moment in its relationship with Jews.<\/p>\n

Galindo, a sex and family therapist and single mother who rose to local prominence after fighting a proposed redevelopment project affecting her affordable housing, has so far spent only around $11,000 on her campaign. Yet she came in first in the 35th District\u2019s heated Democratic primary in March with 29.2% of the vote.<\/p>\n

Her runoff opponent, sheriff\u2019s deputy Johnny Garcia, received 27% of the vote. The third- and fourth-place finishers endorsed Galindo after conceding. Local progressives have suggested that Garcia\u2019s early endorsement from Democratic Majority for Israel, along with his positioning as an establishment moderate, may have hurt his standing among Democratic voters, while Galindo\u2019s anti-establishment stances may have helped her.<\/p>\n

Asked about Talarico\u2019s rejection of her, Galindo told JTA that his stance \u201csays he might be Zionist affiliated, so I\u2019ll move around him accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have been running with anyone anyway,\u201d she wrote in an email. \u201cI run autonomous campaigns so I can maintain my freedom. That\u2019s what people like about me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Galindo also told JTA that \u201ccoordinated media attacks declaring my anti-Zionist rhetoric as anti-Semitic\u201d were \u201ccausing MORE harm to the Jews of San Antonio by playing into all the stigmas that they own the media.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cZionists WANT us to blame all Jews to shield them from the violence they perpetrate on Semites across the Middle East,\u201d Galindo continued. \u201cI\u2019m not falling for it and will continue to protect all Jews from their corrupted leaders by constantly reminding folks that its NOT ALL JEWS. We need to be LOUD about our anti-Zionism in these times to protect our neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The candidate has also disparaged other groups, including Latino men, whom she has said have a \u201ccolonizer mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to Jews and Zionists, the candidate has made no secret of her views.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all very complex. But it\u2019s my perception that Zionist billionaires run the world,\u201d she told the San Antonio Current this week, several days after The New York Times and other outlets publicized her past rhetoric to a national audience. \u201cThey\u2019re of all religions. But especially Israeli, Jewish billionaire Zionists who disproportionately and factually own a lot of Hollywood production studios, media companies, and banks.\u201d<\/p>\n

On social media this week, she wrote, \u201cZIOS=GENOCIDAL EUROPEAN COLONIZER FREAKS.\u201d She has elsewhere referred to the \u201csynagogue of Satan,\u201d a phrase with Biblical origins that was popularized by Louis Farrakhan to promote the idea that today\u2019s Jews are inauthentic, and said that \u201cIsraeli leaders are not real Jews.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Instagram, Wednesday Galindo wrote that, if elected, she would \u201cwrite legislation so that all Zionism and support of Zionism is undoubtedly Anti-Semitic, since it\u2019s Zionists harming the Semites.\u201d The candidate added that she would turn a local immigrant detention center \u201cinto a prison for American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking,\u201d adding in parentheses, \u201cIt will also be a castration processing center for pedophiles, which will probably be most of the Zionists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Appearing on Texas Public Radio this week, she refuted accusations of antisemitism while reaffirming that she opposes \u201cZionist Jews.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not antisemitic. In fact, my last serious relationship was with a Jewish man,\u201d Galindo said. \u201cI\u2019m against Zionist Jews. When I said that the Jews who own Hollywood are doing this, do all Jews own Hollywood? No. The Zionist Jews do. The Zionist Jews own our media, our banks, and all of our politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cThere\u2019s plenty of evidence for what I\u2019m saying in the Epstein files.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the same program, Garcia, Galindo\u2019s opponent, condemned her for having made \u201cantisemitic remarks\u201d and said he had spoken to concerned local Jews about her rhetoric.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gets people to sit out of elections and lose faith in the Democratic Party,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cAnd my reassurance to them was, look, I understand how bad we lost you in 2024. We saw people leaving our party in droves. \u2026 These comments, it\u2019s hurtful, and it does nothing good for our Democratic Party.\u201d<\/p>\n

On social media, Galindo has gone after Garcia by depicting him standing in front of US and Israeli flags and saying he \u201ctook money from Israel to get into Congress & fund Israeli wars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democratic Majority For Israel is mounting an 11th-hour mobilization effort against Galindo, launching a new six-figure ad campaign for Garcia. \u201cJohnny Garcia is a coalition builder who supports a strong US-Israel relationship and has been clear in standing against antisemitism,\u201d DMFI head Brian Romick told Jewish Insider. \u201cHis opponent, on the other hand, proudly embraces vile, antisemitic conspiracies, and if she advances, could put a Democratic House majority at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Galindo has received support from Lean Left, a new Florida-based super PAC with unclear origins that has been linked to Republicans.<\/p>\n

Asked about Galindo, the San Antonio Jewish Community Relations Council told JTA that it \u201ccondemns any and all hateful speech, including the use of antisemitic tropes, in public discourse.\u201d It did not name any candidate in its statement.<\/p>\n

San Antonio is home to an estimated 11,000 Jews, who were shaken last year by a mass shooting threat directed at a Jewish community center.<\/p>\n

Since Galindo\u2019s record of remarks has come to light, one of her former primary opponents rescinded his endorsement of her. \u201cOver the course of the runoff, I have become increasingly troubled by a series of derogatory, inflammatory, and conspiratorial statements directed toward Jewish people and others,\u201d John Lira, a former Small Business Administration staffer, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Lira did not endorse Garcia, instead affirming he would \u201cremain neutral in this runoff election.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maureen Galindo, the housing activist and conspiracy theorist whose rants about \u201cbillionaire Zionists\u201d have defined her pursuit of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":799805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12648,99,50,358,67,11036],"class_list":{"0":"post-799804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-antisemitism","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-us-politics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116582433899232550","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/799805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}