Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) on March 7, 2023. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images – graphics by Jacob Kornbluh

By Jacob Kornbluh September 12, 2024

A campaign mailer supporting a Long Island Republican in danger of losing his House seat targets his opponent by invoking what she is calling blatantly antisemitic imagery of Jewish billionaire George Soros pouring cash over her head. Soros has not given money to Gillen’s campaign, but his son and daughter-in-law have given $6,600.

Democrat Laura Gillen, and some Jewish residents of the Nassau County district, accused Rep. Anthony D’Esposito of spreading “treacherous propaganda” and demanded an immediate apology.

“D’Esposito cannot claim to care about combating antisemitism while airing out the same conspiracies that fuel antisemitic violence,” Gillen, who is not Jewish, said in a statement. 

The New York State GOP confirmed that it paid for the mailer through its financial arm, the New York Republican federal campaign committee. A spokesperson for the D’Esposito campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Soros is often the subject of campaign memes that depict him as a puppet master who manipulates national events for malign purposes —  a common antisemitic trope, according to the Anti-Defamation League. In some depictions of Soros, campaigns or their surrogates have lengthened Soros’ nose, drawing on a stereotype to emphasize his Jewishness.

The mailer targeting Gillen doesn’t explicitly depict Soros as Jewish. But it makes an allusion to greed, which has been condemned as a dog whistle in past efforts to target Jewish candidates.

Prominent Republicans have recently accused the Hungarian-born Democratic megadonor and Holocaust survivor, without evidence, of instigating pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses.

A swing district

The mailer highlights headlines from conservative media outlets that claim Soros paid students to stoke these nationwide protests. According to a Politico report, some groups involved in the demonstrations have received funding from the Tides Foundation, which has, in the past, received funding from Soros.

“Laura Gillen’s campaign is bankrolled by the Soros family, which has spent millions of dollars funding anti-Israel organizations,” the mailer reads. “Laura Gillen is bought and paid for by the Radical Left.” The Gillen campaign received $6,600 of the $3.2 million she raised for her second bid for Congress, from George Soros’ son Jonathan and his wife Jennifer during the second quarter of 2024, according to FEC filings. The other side of the mailer boasts about D’Esposito’s pro-Israel stance.

David Laska, a spokesperson for the NY GOP, said they stand behind the mailer. “The Soros family pays the legal fees of antisemitic campus radicals who have made common cause with Hamas, and they’re also paying Laura Gillen,” he said.” Laska added that Gillen should apologize for taking money from someone who makes life less safe for Jewish students.”

D’Esposito’s district, New York’s 4th, swings between Democrats and Republicans and includes the cities and towns of Hempstead, Long Beach, Ocean Side and Woodmere. President Joe Biden carried it by 12% in 2020. It’s also one of several seats Democrats are focused on in their bid to regain control of the House.

Before Biden withdrew from the race in July, D’Esposito said his internal polls showed him with an 8% lead. The district is now ranked as a toss-up by Cook Political Report. 

Jews make up an estimated 13.7% of its electorate.

D’Esposito has joined other House Republicans in trying to crack down on pro-Palestinian protests. Among other measures, they have expanded congressional oversight of universities that they allege are rife with antisemitism. In April D’Esposito introduced legislation to apply the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which classifies much anti-Zionism as antisemitic, to the enforcement of civil rights laws. He is also a co-sponsor of the bipartisan Countering Antisemitism Act, which proposes the appointment of a new presidential adviser dedicated to antisemitism.

Gillen’s Jewish supporters

Gillen has marshaled Jewish supporters to speak out against the mailer.

Joel Greenberg, a Long Beach attorney, said in a news release from the Gillen campaign that the appeal to “antisemitic conspiracies” of Jewish influence “is incredibly dangerous at a time of heightened antisemitism.”

Alisa Baroukh, a resident of East Meadow, said  she was “absolutely appalled” by the D’Esposito campaign’s scapegoating of Soros and demanded he apologize to the Jewish community “for othering us and endangering us.” 

Former President Donald Trump, who has also invoked the Soros-as-puppeteer conspiracy in his fundraising emails since he launched his 2024 presidential bid, is expected to visit the district next week and hold a campaign rally.

This post was updated with a statement by the NY GOP.

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