By admin 
Here’s a classic warning sign that a congressional campaign is floundering: The candidate is forced to clarify, in a text overlay on an Instagram reel, that her recent policy proposal “DOES NOT MEAN putting all Jews in internment camps.”
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Such is the state of things for Maureen Galindo, a Democrat running for Congress in Texas. The millennial sex therapist eked out a narrow win in the Democratic primary election in March and will advance to a runoff with the second-place finisher, sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia, on Tuesday.
Galindo has drawn sharp criticism in recent weeks for her outlandish platform and antisemitic rants. She has been disavowed by lawmakers across the Democratic spectrum, from Blue Dog centrist Rep. Josh Gottheimer to democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Her fundraising haul is a fraction of the size of her competitor’s. Conventional wisdom would have it that she’s toast.
But Galindo has a secret weapon that could help her win the Democratic nomination: Republicans.
Presumably driven by a belief that Galindo would be the easier candidate for a Republican to beat in November’s general election, a shadowy GOP-linked organization called Lead Left PAC has become the single largest spender in the Democratic primary. Founded about a month ago, the Florida-based PAC has not disclosed its donors, but its website metadata initially contained a link to the Republican fundraising platform WinRed. (It was removed after Punchbowl News reported it.) The group has reported laying out more than $800,000 promoting Galindo and attacking Garcia, while the Galindo campaign itself has only spent about $18,000.
It’s easy to see why the GOP would prefer Galindo as an opponent. In an Instagram post last week, she promised that, if elected, she will turn an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in her district into “a prison for American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking.” She added, “It will also be a castration processing center for pedophiles which will probably be most of the Zionists.” Galindo told Axios she would introduce congressional legislation to have “all American candidates and elected officials who have ever taken Israeli money tried for treason.”
Though Galindo insisted on Instagram, in the third person, that “she would never blame ALL Jews for THE Jews (the Zionists),” it doesn’t take an anti-extremism expert to detect that the candidate is using “Jews,” “Zionists,” and “Israelis” interchangeably, signaling the kind of conspiratorial, antisemitic worldview that would make Marjorie Taylor Greene’s space lasers swoon. But while run-of-the-mill antisemites are growing disturbingly common in American politics—alongside Islamophobes and racists of all stripes—Galindo’s concentration-slash-castration camp proposal for supporters of Israel would place her in the top percentile of raving bigots in Congress.
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The congressional seat Galindo is gunning for represents TX-35, a newly redrawn district that encompasses part of the San Antonio metro area and a slice of rural Texas to the south and east. The previous iteration was solidly blue and represented by Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Rep. Greg Casar, who is now running in a different district. Though analysts have pegged the new TX-35 as likely Republican, Democrats believe it could be winnable in this fall’s midterms if a blue wave comes to pass.
Garcia, a career law enforcement officer who has cast himself in the political mold of conservative Texas Democrats Rep. Henry Cuellar and Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, is an archetypal candidate for a competitive race like this. The Democratic Party is so bullish on Garcia that it included him in its “red to blue” program, which supports a select roster of candidates across the country in races that could flip control of the House. Democratic PACs, including the Blue Dog Action PAC, have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars financing his run.
But with her strident rhetoric against billionaires, ICE, President Donald Trump, and Israel—all timely targets for a Democrat in 2026—Galindo may have galvanized a party base that wants more heat from its leaders than congressional Democrats have historically offered. Even before Lead Left PAC launched its barrage of flyers and ads saying Galindo would abolish ICE and imprison Trump, Galindo beat Garcia in the primary by 2 points (and two other candidates by even more) with 29 percent of the vote.
There’s no telling how many of those 16,000-or-so Galindo voters were aware of her antisemitic leanings or castration-curious worldview when they cast their ballots in March. By the time the two go head-to-head in Tuesday’s runoff, if the Democrats have their way, far more will be in the know. The primary will serve as a referendum on the appeal of Democratic populism, the viability of a kooky extremist contingent in a party that has prided itself on cautious, sober-minded governance, and whether outbursts about “THE Jews” remain a nonstarter to Democratic voters in this era of rising antisemitism.
As the vote approaches, a growing number of politicians and organizations are lining up against Galindo in hopes of boxing her out. Track AIPAC, a group that backs left-leaning, anti-Zionist candidates, rescinded its endorsement this week. “Most disturbing are her comments calling to jail Americans who identify as Zionists and calls for physical mutilation as a form of criminal punishment,” its statement read. Could opposing federal castration sites be the issue that unites America? (Never mind, don’t answer that.)
It is a testament to the despicability of Galindo’s politics that we’re nearly 900 words into this post and we haven’t even gotten to the sex therapist part! According to her website and Psychology Today page, she offers a “liberation-based approach” that can help you “discover the keys that unlock your most authentic pleasures.” Galindo assures potential clients, “I’m supportive of all identities and relationship styles so long as they honor the safety of the self & others, physically, emotionally, and otherwise <3.” As for everyone else, good luck in the camps!
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