A Missouri Republican who has made anti-Semitic and other bigoted statements handily won a primary for the state's House of Representatives.
Steve West, who promotes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on a radio show he hosts, defeated three other candidates Aug. 7 in the bid for a seat representing Clay County. He won with 49.5 percent of the vote; the second-place finisher had 24.4 percent.
"Looking back in history, unfortunately, Hitler was right about what was taking place in Germany. And who was behind it,” West said on KCXL radio in January 2017, The Kansas City Star reported Aug. 9.
West has spoken of “Jewish cabals” that are “harvesting baby parts” from Planned Parenthood, abusing children and controlling the Republican Party. West also has a YouTube channel on which he has made homophobic, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and racist statements, according to The Star.
West will face Democratic incumbent Jon Carpenter in November.
The Chronicle was not able to find statistics on the size of the Jewish community of Missouri’s District 15, which West is hoping to represent. Most people knowledgeable of the Jewish community in the metropolitan Kansas City area believe there are few, if any, Jewish people in that district.
On Monday, Marvin Szneler, director of JCRB|AJC, the KC regional office of AJC, said JCRB|AJC only became aware of West’s candidacy at election time. He said that’s likely due to the “shrinking resources of the big newspapers in our area, which are no longer thoroughly covering every state and local race as they once did. For generations we relied on journalists to bring these issues to light.”
The local chapter of the Anti-Defamation League said it was not sure why West’s comments had not been publicized earlier.
“I’m trying to get a sense of why he flew under the radar, and I’m not sure I have a great answer,” said Karen Aroesty, who directs the organization’s operations in Missouri, Southern Illinois and Eastern Kansas.
Once he learned about West, JCRB|AJC’s Szneler communicated with “our relevant contacts, which covered a broad view of him and this situation.”
“The knowledgeable folks with whom I have met indicate he has a very, very small chance of winning this seat,” Szneler said. “I hope the stories that have now been written about him have educated people not only about him, but of the frightening things he says.”
Two days after the election, on Aug. 9, the Missouri Republican Party denounced West's "shocking and vile" comments.
“West’s abhorrent rhetoric has absolutely no place in the Missouri Republican Party or anywhere,” the party told The Star. “We wholeheartedly condemn his comments."
Reached by The Star, West said his comments had been taken out of context, but went on to criticize both Judaism and Islam.
“Jewish people can be beautiful people, but there’s ideologies associated with that that I don’t agree with,” he told The Star. “Jews today are a remnant of the tribe of Judah that rejected Christ.”
West's campaign platform does not mention Jews, but contains a section titled "Islam is a Problem for America" and says that "most parents don't want their children recieving (sic) alternative sex ed, or having to deal with or be around the LGBT clubs."
And while headlines in The Star, The Pitch and KCUR all tended to include accusations of anti-Semitism, Szneler wants people to also be concerned that “he is portrayed as Islamophobic, homophobic and racist against many.”
He added, “When folks have contacted JCRB|AJC on this, I remind them of our agency credo, quoting Hillel, the first-century rabbi: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?”
Szneler also pointed out that while we’d like to think that it’s “extremely rare to find radio folks and candidates with similar views,” that’s not the case in 2018.
“It is not the norm, obviously, but folks seem to feel empowered to voice their philosophies” more openly these days, he said.
KCXL is on the dial at 1140 AM, 102.9 FM and 104.7 FM. On its website it bills itself as “Your Information Station,” with the following description:
“America is a very different country than it used to be. We used to be a country of freedom, job (sic), opportunity and equality. Now, we are a country that looks down upon traditional values. We are a country that puts its citizens second to citizens of other countries. But most importantly, we are a country that, rather than speaking the truth, we hide it, in fear of being ‘offensive.’ … we bring you the truth. We tell you the things that the liberal media wont (sic) tell you. We make it our goal to inform our listeners on the issues that matter. We are your information station!”