Hi there,

As you may have heard, my opponent made international news this week after she produced and played a campaign video containing anti-Semitic images. The video depicted Jewish philanthropist George Soros holding puppet strings attached to me and to a prominent Jewish voting rights lawyer.

Let me be clear: Criticizing George Soros for his politics or for the causes and candidates he supports is fair game. But using anti-Semitic imagery is outrageous and wrong.

Here's how a prominent and respected national Jewish organization described why the image is so poisonous:

"Casting a Jewish individual as a puppet master who manipulates elections, government actions, and/or national events for malign purposes conjures up longstanding antisemitic tropes about Jewish power and contributes to the normalization of antisemitism."

It's mind-boggling that anyone seeking any political office would think this was okay, and would not be aware of the long, deep, disturbing history of these themes.

This kind of ugly imagery fuels extremism, hatred, and violence. It has no place in Minnesota politics, and every candidate should condemn it.

Rather than apologize or even back away, my opponent has been defiant - even fundraising off her defense of the video, calling the condemnations "contrived and bogus political attacks."

The Office of Secretary of State requires a leader who oversees our elections with fairness, integrity, and impartiality.

That's the kind of leader I've been and will continue to be with your help. We can’t trust my opponent to be fair and impartial with Minnesota’s election system. Extremists and their enablers don't belong.

Thanks for standing with me.

Steve

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