Josh Mandel Won’t Return White Supremacist Donation
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
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.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
