White Supremacy Should Be Denounced By Oversight Committee Republicans—Including Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene—Democrats Urge

Topline

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, called on committee chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) and other Republican members to publicly denounce white supremacy and white nationalism Sunday—including some of the House GOP’s most controversial members, such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.).

Key Facts

Raskin sent a letter to Comer, first reported by the Washington Post, calling on the committee’s Republican members to sign a resolution that “denounce[s] white nationalism and white supremacy in all its forms,” including a “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory that’s been repeatedly cited as a defense for acts of domestic terrorism.

The ranking member attached a resolution that’s already been signed by all of the committee’s Democratic members, which Raskin asked GOP committee members to now sign as well.

Raskin cited “dangerous and conspiratorial rhetoric that Republican committee members have made that “[borrow]

from” the “Great Replacement” theory as making it more necessary to emphasize that the Republican lawmakers denounce those ideologies, such as describing migrants arriving at the Southern border as an “invasion” and claiming the Biden Administration was “implementing a plan ‘to deliberately open our border’ for purposes of ‘changing our culture.’”

Though Raskin did not specify the lawmakers in his letter, committee members Boebert and Greene have described the influx of migrants as an “invasion,” the Post notes—along with other GOP lawmakers—while Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) made the comment about immigrants “changing our culture.”

Comer’s office has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Crucial Quote

“If Committee Republicans intend to continue examining the southern border and related policies, it is imperative for every member of this Committee to make clear to the American people that we speak with one voice to reject dangerous conspiracy theories and racist and antisemitic ideology in our Committee’s deliberations and decision-making,” Raskin wrote. “I feel certain—and I fervently hope—that you agree.”

Tangent

In addition to Greene, Boebert and Gosar, other Republican members of the House Oversight Committee include Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.).

Key Background

Raskin’s letter comes after Democrats previously urged Republicans to join them in denouncing white supremacy in 2022, following a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. No Republicans signed on to that resolution, which condemned the “Great Replacement” theory, Raskin noted in his letter Sunday, saying he was now giving Comer “another opportunity to take a public stand against the deliberate amplification of dangerous racist rhetoric that has had deadly consequences in this country.” Greene and Gosar have particularly garnered criticism for their apparent ties to white nationalism and white supremacy movement in the past, such as when both lawmakers drew widespread scrutiny even from others in their party after speaking at the white nationalist-backed America First Political Action Conference in February 2022. Both lawmakers also attempted to start a GOP caucus that promoted “uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions” in 2021, which other Republicans rejected. Boebert has also been criticized in the past for her campaign’s reported ties to an extremist militia group that participated in the January 6 attack on the Capitol building. Republican leaders in Congress have typically denounced white supremacist ideologies in the past, with then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) saying there was “no place in the Republican Party for white supremacists or anti-Semitism” following Greene and Gosar’s appearances at AFPAC.

Further Reading

The Early 202: Meet the McCarthy aide tasked with preventing a debt-limit disaster (Washington Post)

McConnell says no space in GOP for ‘white supremacists or anti-Semitism’ after two House Republicans participate in white nationalist’s conference (Washington Post)

Marjorie Taylor Greene Forming Caucus To Promote ‘Anglo-Saxon Political Traditions’ (Forbes)