A New Jersey Republican congressman is demanding an apology from a Democratic colleague who accused him of racism.
The spat began on Thursday when Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, seized upon a line from Rep. Tom MacArthur’s ad, that labeled his Korean-American opponent, Andy Kim, as “not one of us.” Schiff tweeted the attack looping MacArthur in with other racially charged remarks from other Republican congressman.
“Rep. MacArthur says his Korean American opponent is ‘not one of us.’ Rep. Hunter attacks his challenger for being a Muslim terrorist. And Rep. King endorses an avowed white supremacist and anti-Semite. The dog whistles of bigotry have been put away. Now they’re using trumpets,” Schiff tweeted.
Last week, Iowa Rep. Steve King, who has a history of making disparaging remarks about minorities, said Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro and former HUD secretary Julian Castro learned Spanish “to qualify as retroactive Hispanics.” In California, Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, facing an indictment and fighting for reelection, has opted to run an anti-muslim campaign, accusing his Mexican-Palestinian-American opponent of having ties to terrorism.
Schiff did not specify when MacArthur said the quote in question, although it does appear in one of MacArthur’s campaign ads. The line was iterated by a narrator, not MacArthur.
MacArthur — who adopted two children from South Korea — angrily responded Thursday.
“Hey @AdamSchiff – First, I didn’t say that. Second, you should have done some research before you made such a disgustingly false claim. I have 2 adopted children from South Korea. I don’t want your apology, but you sure can apologize to my children,” MacArthur wrote on Twitter.
CNN currently rates the race between MacArthur and Kim as a toss-up.
Schiff’s office did not respond Friday to a request for comment.
