Washington, DC – The following is a statement from Scott Simpson, public advocacy director of Muslim Advocates, regarding another round of losses for anti-Muslim campaign rhetoric in last night’s primary elections in Virginia, South Carolina, North Dakota, and Nevada. Our analysis was limited to instances of anti-Muslim rhetoric, including lying and fear-mongering about Muslims, that we could ascertain in congressional and statewide races during the current election cycle from position statements and reports. As a 501c3 charity that does not endorse or oppose candidates for office, we limited our analysis to statements made during the current election cycle and excluded the cumulative records of individual candidates from before the current campaign.

“After a complete blowout in South Dakota’s race last week, these primary results provide even more proof points that hate mongering about Muslims is a losing election tactic.

In Virginia, a losing Senate candidate named E.W. Jackson blamed slavery on “Arab Muslims” and accused his opponent of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.  This loss comes after last year’s failure of anti-Muslim rhetoric in every statewide race in the commonwealth, including for Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General.

In South Carolina, gubernatorial candidate Catherine Templeton, who called for “turning the spigot off” when asked about Islam, failed to make the run-off.

In Nevada, congressional candidate Stephanie Jones, who referred to Islam as an “ideology not a religion,” secured less than 2% of the vote.

And, finally, in North Dakota, Gary Emineth never even made it to the ballot, after he dropped out in early February, when anti-Muslim comments he made came to light.

We know that this rhetoric has led to an unprecedented spike in anti-Muslim violence and mosque attacks. Parroting these lies and attacks only results in more bigotry and violence and does nothing to elect these candidates. We hope, for the sake of American Muslims everywhere, that candidates and political consultants start taking notice.”

Muslim Advocates is a 501c3 and we do not endorse or oppose candidates for office.

Muslim Advocates is a national legal advocacy and educational organization that works on the frontlines of civil rights to guarantee freedom and justice for Americans of all faiths.

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