Texas Dem candidate who called for jailing ‘Zionists’ turns on party, media over backlash

A Democratic congressional candidate from Texas, who was widely condemned for calling for “American Zionists” to be imprisoned in a former ICE detention center, is now blaming journalists and her own party for the furor — while doubling down on the gist of her remarks.

Maureen Galindo, a sex therapist and housing activist, is running in Tuesday’s Democratic primary runoff for Texas’ 35th Congressional District — a seat redrawn by Republican lawmakers in 2025 to favor the GOP, stripping the district of its Austin base and reconfiguring it around San Antonio and outlying eastern counties. Ms. Galindo ignited a storm with an Instagram post in which she pledged to draft legislation turning the Karnes County ICE detention center into a prison for “American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking.” In the same message, written in the third person, she adds that the establishment “will also be a castration center for pedophiles, who will probably be most Zionists.”

In a video posted on social media on Thursday, Ms. Galindo disputed media coverage of her comments, saying “prison” — not “internment camp” — was the term she used, and blamed the backlash on a deliberate campaign to misrepresent her.

“I’m sorry to all the journalists if I missed your email or your social media post, it got lost in a wave of hundreds of death threats and the most vile things,” she said. “I’m in Texas, I know MAGA. It’s worse than MAGA, that’s because MAGA and Zionism are religious overreach of the government.”

Galindo nonetheless reiterated her call to imprison those she called “billionaire American Zionists,” accusing them of funding what she called “genocidal prison systems.” His campaign clarified that the renovated Karnes facility would be open to people of multiple faiths — including evangelicals, Catholics and Mormons — and said the project would bring jobs to the area.

In separate Instagram posts, Ms. Galindo accused her runoff opponent, Johnny Garcia, a former Bexar County public information officer, of participating in a human trafficking conspiracy led by wealthy Zionist Jews. Asked about condemning Democratic leaders, she said she didn’t care “what any politician who belongs to Zionists thinks.”

The response within his own party was swift. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairwoman Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington called on House Republican leaders to “immediately stop supporting this anti-Semitic candidacy, reduce spending in the race and forcefully condemn these comments.”

Representatives Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Jared Moskowitz of Florida went further, promising to force a vote in the House to expel Ms. Galindo every day Congress is in session if she wins the seat.

“If for any reason Maureen Galindo wins the congressional election in TX-35, as soon as she is sworn in, we will force a vote to expel her every day we are here,” the two lawmakers said in a joint statement, adding that her views have “no place in our party or our country.”

Even members of the progressive wing of the House broke with Ms. Galindo. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York called his comments “disgusting” and Mr. Garcia said in a video response that they had “no place in our Democratic Party or any place in public office.”

The Texas Tribune reported that party leaders are also sounding the alarm about outside spending in the race. The Lead Left PAC, a newly formed political action committee based in Tallahassee, Fla., spent nearly $1 million promoting Ms. Galindo’s candidacy. The group’s website metadata contained links to the GOP fundraising platform WinRed, although this metadata was later removed. Galindo separately told Axios that she would introduce legislation to have “all American candidates and elected officials who have ever taken Israeli money tried for treason.”

Federal Election Commission records show Ms. Galindo’s campaign raised $10,917 through the beginning of May. She advanced to the runoff despite that meager fundraising, finishing ahead of Mr. Garcia in the March primary. Texas Public Radio reported that Texas Senate candidate and state Rep. James Talarico confirmed he would not campaign for Ms. Galindo even if she won the nomination.