Sarah Unsicker, Missouri rep who spread antisemitic conspiracies, announces run for governor
Unsicker’s spiral began after she posted a selfie with two known conspiracy theorists
Missouri Rep. Sarah Unsicker, seen here in a video announcing her withdrawal from the state’s attorney general race, accused a former opponent of being an unregistered Israeli agent. Missouri’s secretary of state said there was “no evidence” to support the claim. Image by screenshot via Twitter/@ericgarland
By Louis Keene January 9, 2024
A Missouri state representative who was expelled from the Democratic House caucus after she shared antisemitic conspiracy theories is running for governor.
Sarah Unsicker, who was first elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2016 and was until recently running for state attorney general, withdrew from that race after suggesting that a Jewish opponent for the role was a foreign agent for Israel who failed to properly register with the U.S. government — among a number of antisemitic allegations against other contenders in the race.
Unsicker implied that she had not let go of that conspiracy theory in a speech announcing her candidacy for governor.
“I am running for Governor of Missouri because we must have justice,” she said. “We must have security in our elections. We must have children who can grow up safe, healthy, and happy.”
The Forward reached out to Unsicker for comment and will update this article if the representative responds.
Unsicker’s bewildering career spiral began after she posted a selfie with two known conspiracy theorists, Charles Johnson and Eric Garland, in early December. Garland is currently listed as Unsicker’s campaign manager for her gubernatorial run.
Johnson has been accused of Holocaust denial; Unsicker’s refusal to disavow him led to her being stripped of her committee assignments by the Missouri House minority leader.
Following her removal, Unsicker joined a X (formerly Twitter) Space with Johnson and Garland in which they accused two of her opponents, Will Scharf and Elad Gross, of being dispatched by Israeli intelligence to undermine Missourians’ election choices. (Scharf is running as a Republican; Gross is running, as Unsicker was, as a Democrat.)
Unsicker went along with the conversation, and in subsequent days, doubled down on the accusation, alleging that Gross’ wife, a former employee of the ADL, and Gross’ Israeli-born mother were in on the plot.
“It’s hard to believe that there’s real candidates when I’m trying to be a real person here and get shut down,” she said.
She withdrew from the race in December, saying that she had forwarded an alleged “criminal complaint” against Gross and his family to the Missouri Secretary of State, and would withdraw from the race “because of the considerable conflict of interest these allegations present.”
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft responded to Unsicker’s claims with a statement that said “we have not been provided any evidence that even remotely relates to Missouri election interference.”
In a Dec. 11 thread on X defending her actions, Unsicker posted a screenshot from the Ashreinu website containing Kaminsky’s photo and bio, and wrote, “I am alleging something probable.”
Both Scharf, a Republican former federal prosecutor, and Gross, a former assistant attorney general, said they were mystified by Unsicker’s claims.
“They’re so far down the rabbit hole even the rabbits think they’re crazy,” Scharf said in an interview last month, referring to Unsicker, Johnson and Garland, adding, “They’re playing with some dangerous tropes.”
Gross, a Democrat, said he had worked with Unsicker several times during her tenure in the House. He struggled to square the friendly politician he had known with the conspiracy mongerer impugning his family.
“She’s come to me for help on many occasions,” he said at the time. “It is immensely painful to hear this hatred coming from her mouth, and I am furious that my family had to spend all last night while our candles were still burning and at least today talking security.”
“I think it’s a terrible idea,” Gross told the Forward of Unsicker’s gubernatorial run. “She shouldn’t still be a state legislator, let alone the Governor of Missouri.”
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