Sen. Candidate Josh Mandel Rips Opponent For Calling Bannon ‘White Supremacist’
Ohio state treasurer Josh Mandel has criticized Sen. Sherrod Brown, his opponent in next year’s Senate race, for calling former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon a “white supremacist.”
In an exclusive statement to Breitbart, the conservative news website run by Bannon, Mandel said that such claims were “desperate, false and beneath the dignity of his office.”
“Sherrod’s lies are from a stale and failed playbook that’s worn thin on Americans and motivated so many people to abandon the Democratic Party,” Mandel added.
Brown was asked in a CNN interview Sunday whether he agreed with Rep. Frederica Wilson that the White House “is full of white supremacists.”
“I agree that Steve Bannon is a white supremacist, and [senior White House adviser] Stephen Miller seems to be,” Brown responded.
Brown previously criticized Bannon and Breitbart in a June speech to the Zionist Organization of America.
Mandel, who is Jewish, has received much support from Bannon and other members of the “alt-right” — including proponents of the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, who have [endorsed Mandel] and started a super PAC to defend them. Mandel had previously criticized the Anti-Defamation League for putting those bloggers, Mike Cernovich and Jack Posobiec, on a list of people having a “hateful impact” on politics.
Mandel lost to Brown in the 2012 race for the same Senate seat up for grabs next year.
Contact Aiden Pink at pink@forward.com or on Twitter, @aidenpink
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