A Democratic lawmaker and a candidate are facing criticism from Republican leaders following their attendance at a march which national Democratic leaders have denounced and withdrawn from following accusations of racism, bigotry, and anti-Semitism leveled by prominent Democrats against the event’s organizers.
On Saturday, Delegate Elizabeth Guzman (D-Dale City) and Ibraheem Samirah, Democratic nominee in the 86th House district, attended the 2019 Women’s March in Washington DC, after national Democratic leaders and several left-wing groups pulled out of the event, condemning what they said were anti-Semitic views and ties held by the march’s organizers.
“Today, sadly, I must walk away from the national Women’s March organization, and specifically its leadership,” wrote Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), in an op-ed headlined as “National Women’s March rotten with bigotry.” Wassermann Schultz formerly chaired the Democratic National Committee from 2011 until 2016, when she resigned under pressure from President Obama after leaked emails showed DNC favoritism towards Hillary Clinton’s campaign during the presidential primary.
“While I still firmly believe in its values and mission, I cannot associate with the national march’s leaders and principles, which refuse to completely repudiate anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry. I cannot walk shoulder to shoulder with leaders who lock arms with outspoken peddlers of hate,” she continued.
Joining Wassermann Schultz in condemnation and withdrawal were the Democratic National Committee, EMILY’s List, the Human Rights Campaign, NARAL, and the Southern Poverty Law Center, as well as many individual Democratic leaders and elected officials.
Additionally, the march’s founder, Teresa Shook, joined in the denouncing this year’s event and warning Democrats to stay away.
“Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour and Carmen Perez of Women’s March, Inc. have steered the Movement away from its true course,” wrote Shook. “In opposition to our Unity Principles, they have allowed anti-Semitism, anti-LBGTQIA sentiment and hateful, racist rhetoric to become a part of the platform by their refusal to separate themselves from groups that espouse these racist, hateful beliefs.”
Specifically, Democratic leaders cited the involvement of several organizers who espoused anti-Semitic beliefs or associated with notorious anti-Semites, including Louis Farrakhan.
Sarsour is known for her anti-Israel activism, which numerous Jewish leaders have called anti-Semitic, including Anti-Defamation League President Jonathan Greenblatt, who characterized her actions as “formenting it, rather than fighting it.” She has also emerged as a leader in the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which aims to undermine the Israeli economy and calls for international boycotts of Jewish-owned businesses for their association with Israel.
Also problematic were the ties of several organizers to Louis Farrakhan, the aggressively anti-Semitic leader of the black nationalist group Nation of Islam, which the Southern Poverty Law Center characterizes as a hate group for its “deeply racist, antisemitic and anti-LGBT rhetoric.”
Guzman and Samirah were the only Virginia Democrats seen in attendance at an event which drew dozens of Democratic lawmakers and leaders last year, before the anti-Semitism controversy came to light.
Republican leaders condemned the rally and the attendance by Guzman and Samirah.
“The Republican Party of Virginia calls on Delegate Guzman, Ibraheem Samirah, and the Democratic Party of Virginia to condemn what Louis Farrakhan and the Women’s March stand for,” said Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Jack Wilson. “Between Leslie Cockburn and now the Women’s March, Virginia Democrats continue to embrace anti-Semitism. That kind of bigotry has no place in Virginia.”
Joining Wilson in condemnation was Mike Ginsberg, a Jewish Republican who leads the Suburban Virginia GOP coalition.
“It’s just incredible to me that the Women’s March leaders cannot forthrightly and unequivocally condemn anti-Semitism in all its forms and dissociate themselves from virulent anti-Semites like Louis Farrakhan,” Ginsberg added.
“But I am simply stunned that a sitting Democratic delegate and a Democratic candidate for delegate would lock arms in solidarity with the leaders of the Women’s March. It’s a disgrace that Democrats Elizabeth Guzman and Ibraheem Samirah saw fit to participate in a March that even the DNC, NARAL, and other liberal groups refused to support because of its leaders’ ties to Farrakhan.”
Guzman, who represents portions of Prince William and Fauquier county in the House of Delegates, is being challenged by D.J. Jordan, a black Republican who has condemned the racism and bigotry of the March’s organizers.
Samirah is the Democratic nominee in the 86th House district, encompassing portions of Fairfax and Loudoun County, which recently became vacant following the election of former Delegate Jennifer Boysko (D-Herndon) to the Senate of Virginia. Samirah will face Republican Gregg Nelson, an Air Force veteran and small business owner who secured the GOP’s nomination on Saturday.