One of the likeliest Democratic pickups in the country just got much more likely. A Republican candidate for Congress in New Jersey was found to have made offensive comments about black and Hispanic people and, as soon as those particular comments came to light, the House Republicans' campaign arm pulled its endorsement.
(Though liberal groups have been sharing controversial comments made by Seth Grossman for more than a month.)
On Monday, the final straw came for Republicans. A liberal watchdog group revealed that in 2014, Grossman, the recent Republican nominee in New Jersey's 2nd District, shared an article on Facebook from a white-nationalist website that said that African Americans “are a threat to all who cross their paths, black and non-black alike.” In the wake of the revelation, the House GOP campaign arm retracted what was a nominal endorsement of Grossman, who was not the party's favorite candidate in the first place.
“Bigotry has no place in society — let alone the U.S. House of Representatives,” Rep. Steve Stivers, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement Monday night.
In the battle for the House this fall, officially giving up on a Republican-held seat is not what the party needs right now. President Trump won this Atlantic City-area district by four points, and it has been in Republican hands since 1994, when Rep. Frank A. LoBiondo, who is retiring, first won it.
