A GOP candidate is taking heat for comments he made calling diversity “crap” and “un-American.” And instead of apologizing, the New Jersey congressional candidate is doubling down. The April comments made by Seth Grossman, the surprise winner of last week’s Republican primary in New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District, were posted in a video by American Bridge to the 21st Century, a political action committee monitoring GOP candidates.
“The whole idea of diversity is a bunch of crap and un-American,” Grossman said at an April 21 event in Pittsgrove that made few waves at the time. The video was first shared with The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Diversity efforts, he continued, are “an excuse by Democrats, communists and socialists, basically, to say that we’re not all created equal, that some people, if somebody is lesser qualified, they will get a job anyway or they’ll get into college anyway because of the tribe that they’re with, what group, what box they fit into.”
Shortly after the comments resurfaced, Grossman’s campaign posted a statement on Facebook doubling down on the sentiment.
“‘Diversity’ is not a virtue,” the statement read. “America did not become great because of ‘diversity.’”
Grossman, a lawyer who served on the City Council in Atlantic City in the 1980s, has emphasized his support for hard-line immigration policies, President Donald Trump, Second Amendment rights and Affordable Care Act repeal as pillars of his campaign platform.
Democrats consider the November race between Grossman and his opponent, state Sen. Jeff Van Drew, as key to reclaiming control of the House.
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