House Republican in swing district distances himself from Trump’s 'unfounded theories'

17 September 2024

Not all Republicans are as eager as former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) to attack vast swaths of immigrants. In fact, some GOP members of Congress are now cautiously distancing themselves from the GOP ticket's anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Politico reported Tuesday that in some swing districts where incumbent House Republicans are in the midst of tough reelection battles, members are more reticent to share Trump and Vance's baseless rumors of Haitian migrants kidnapping and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. Even though city officials have said there is no evidence to back up the rumor, the GOP ticket is nonetheless doubling down on the lie.

One example of this was Rep. Mike Lawler (R-New York) warning his fellow Republicans — through a spokesperson — against sharing social media rumors not based in facts. Lawler is currently fighting for his political life in a toss-up race against former Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-New York), who was forced out of his old district in New York's mid-decade redrawing of Congressional district boundaries.

"[Lawler] encourages his colleagues to exercise great restraint when spreading unfounded theories and claims based off of posts on Facebook," said Lawler spokesperson Nate Soule in a statement that didn't name Trump or Vance.

Notably, Lawler's statement also did not name Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-New York), another freshman Republican lawmaker from the Empire State who won by a narrow margin in 2022. Molinaro shared posts elevating the rumor on his own social media accounts including Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). His Democratic opponent, Josh Riley, has demanded Molinaro apologize for the posts.

“It’s beneath the office to pedal and traffic in dangerous and racist conspiracy theories,” Riley told Politico. “We have real, big, serious challenges that we need to solve.”

In Lawler's lower Hudson Valley district, which has a sizable Haitian American population, the Republican is attempting to toe the line of not alienating a core constituency while also not attacking the Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees. Jones — his opponent — flatly attacked the anti-migrant attacks as "gross" and "racist."

"It’s sadly par for the course in Republican politics," Jones said.

Members of the Haitian community in Lawler's district have also condemned the rumor. Politico spoke with Renold Julien, who leads a community center aimed at helping Haitian migrants in the area. He said that Haitians "didn’t come to the United States looking for racist people to keep insulting us."

"We come here to make a living. We come here because we have been forced out of our country," Julien added.

Click here to read Politico's report in its entirety.

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