Candidate who called to jail, castrate Zionists loses congressional primary

Maureen Galindo received 37% of the vote after calling for American Zionists to be castrated and imprisoned for supporting Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

Johnny Garcia won the Democratic nomination Tuesday in Texas’ 35th Congressional District, defeating Maureen Galindo after her comments about “Zionists” triggered a national backlash and turned a local runoff into a test of how the party handles antisemitism allegations in its ranks.

Garcia, a Bexar County sheriff’s deputy, received 13,886 votes to Galindo’s 8,004, with all polling locations reporting, according to unofficial results from the Texas secretary of state. The result gave Garcia about 63% of the vote and Galindo about 37%.

The runoff drew national attention after Galindo, a housing activist and therapist, posted that she wanted to turn the Karnes County ICE detention center into “a prison for American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking.”

The post also said the site would be “a castration processing center for pedophiles, which will probably be most of the Zionists.”

Galindo had led the March primary with 29% of the vote, narrowly ahead of Garcia’s 27%, before senior Democrats moved aggressively to stop her in the runoff.

Party officials feared that nominating her would hand Republicans an easy target in a newly redrawn district that Democrats still hope to contest in November.

Galindo denied being antisemitic and said her comments were aimed at Zionism, not Jews. In an email she said her proposal was “NEVER for Jewish Zionists — it’s for BILLIONAIRE Zionists.”

But Democratic leaders across the party rejected that defense. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Suzan DelBene called Galindo’s remarks “disqualifying” and urged Republicans to stop what Democrats said was outside spending intended to boost her candidacy.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a leading progressive critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, also endorsed Garcia and denounced Galindo’s rhetoric.

“This is absolutely disgusting,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “This bigoted garbage and antisemitism should be nowhere near our politics.”

Garcia framed the runoff as a fight over whether Democrats could build a coalition broad enough to win the district. He told Texas Public Radio that Galindo’s comments had alarmed Jewish voters in San Antonio.

“It hurts people,” Garcia said. “It gets people to sit out of elections and lose faith in the Democratic Party.”

Garcia will face Republican Carlos De La Cruz, a retired Air Force veteran and brother of Rep. Monica De La Cruz, in November. De La Cruz defeated state Rep. John Lujan in the Republican runoff.

The district, currently represented by progressive Democrat Greg Casar, was dramatically reshaped by Texas Republicans last year. The new lines removed much of its old Austin base and now center the district more heavily around San Antonio and nearby counties.

The Texas Tribune reported that under the new boundaries, Donald Trump would have carried the district by about 10 points in 2024, though Cook Political Report gives Republicans a smaller four-point advantage.

Casar is running instead in the Austin-area 37th District, leaving the 35th open. Garcia was backed by the DCCC, the Blue Dog Coalition and Democratic Majority for Israel PAC, while he campaigned as what the Texas Tribune described as an “old-school, law-and-order” Democrat.