Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) Makes Fundraising Appeal Loaded with Antisemitic Dog Whistles

Two weeks before Election Day for the Georgia Senate Runoffs, Governor Brian Kemp (R) made a fundraising appeal on Twitter in support of the Republican incumbents, Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue:

“California and New York liberals are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into Georgia in an attempt to buy our state for Chuck Schumer,” Kemp wrote in a tweet laden with antisemitic tropes. “We must defend Georgia to save America. Donate to hold the line in Georgia today.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who is Jewish, was frequently cited in Republican Senate campaigns during the 2020 general election cycle, which often portrayed him as a shadowy and nefarious figure. These depictions, corresponding language about the Jewish Senator trying to “buy” the election, and the implication that this would result in the destruction of the country tapped into long-standing antisemitic tropes about Jews, money, and power.

Over the course of the runoff election, Loeffler made similar statements about Schumer, invoking him nine times during an hour-long debate with her Democratic opponent, Rev. Raphael Warnock.

Kemp’s emphasis on “New York liberals” also carried antisemitic dog-whistles with it. There is a decades-long history in the United States of referring to “New York” as a euphemism for Jews. In a debate during the 2016 Republican Presidential Primary, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was widely criticized as antisemitic for making a derisive comment about “New York values.” In March of 2020, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) blamed the spread of COVID-19 in his state on “people in New York.” And in October 2020, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made similar statements about not wanting “somebody from New York…setting the agenda for America” in one of his Senate debates.

The prevalence of the “New York” trope was even referenced in pilot episode of The West Wing: