Republican House candidate apologizes after suggesting Democrats are leading US toward another Holocaust • Minnesota Reformer

At a Republican Party fundraiser in Mankato, Minnesota House of Representatives candidate Erica Schwartz, who is running for District 18A, gave a speech in which she promised to promote tough-on-crime policies and lower taxes.

In a side conversation after the speech, Schwartz said Democrats were leading the United States toward another Holocaust, according to an audio recording obtained by Reformer.

Schwartz is running against DFL Rep. Jeff Brand to represent a swing district that includes north Mankato, Saint Peter and nearby communities.

Schwartz told unidentified people that she is interested in World War II history and took her daughter to visit the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

“It was heartbreaking, but it’s also a very important part of our ugly history that we need to remember so that we never do it again,” Schwartz said of the Holocaust. “And I just feel like we’re headed back to this whole thing, with what’s happening with the DFL and what’s happening with our country, with everything being Democratic, from our president to our governor to our representatives in the State House.”

Schwartz continued: “They’re promoting this whole transgender thing. You know, when I go to my kid’s school, my child’s school, I see this pride flag everywhere. Posters everywhere, in the hallways… but they took away the American flag.”

In a statement provided Reformer, Schwartz said she regrets making those comments.

“As a brand new candidate, I made a disingenuous comment in an attempt to underscore some of the reasons I ran for office: my deep concerns about one-party control in Minnesota and an increasingly hostile political environment in which free speech is under attack and Americans are divided. I regret making that comparison and will be more specific with my words in the future,” Schwartz said.

Ethan Roberts, deputy director of the Minnesota Jewish Community Relations Council, said this is not the first time candidates or elected officials have made “completely inappropriate” comparisons to the Holocaust.

During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, some Republicans compared public health measures — including mask mandates and school and business closures — to Nazi-era Germany. 2022 Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen hidden that groups opposing government public health policies will help prevent a repeat of Nazism.

Schwartz’s comments come at a sensitive time for American Jews, as reports of anti-Semitism on college campuses have emerged following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians and the subsequent Israeli bombing of Gaza.

“Whatever upsets you, whatever you think is the cause of our country’s struggles, it is not the Holocaust,” Roberts said.