Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Josh Mandel Won’t Return White Supremacist Donation

Josh Mandel, the Jewish Ohio treasurer who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012, will not return a campaign donation from a white supremacist.

An array of Republican candidates who have received donations from Earl Holt, the president of the Council of Conservative Citizens, are returning his donations in the wake of reports that the man alleged to have killed nine black worshippers in a church in Charleston, S.C. was inspired by the group.

Mandel, who unsuccessfully ran for Senate in 2012, will not return the $1,500 his campaign received, Chris Berry, Mandel’s spokesman, told the Toledo Blade on Tuesday.

“The money he donated was spent over two and a half years ago, so it cannot be returned,” Berry said. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) was reelected in 2012.

Dylann Roof, the 21-year old in custody, is not known to have had any ties with Holt’s group.

A number of Republicans, including presidential candidates Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), have returned the funds to Holt or donated their equivalent to a charity, including one in memory of the nine victims.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.