ADVERTISEMENT

Sanders Aide's Tweets Include Homophobic Slurs, References to 'Jew Money'

Democratic Presidential Candidates Participate In Debate In Atlanta, Georgia
Getty Images
December 5, 2019

A newly hired official for Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I., Vt.) presidential campaign has a history of racial slurs and denigrating remarks directed at gays, Jews, and women.

Darius Khalil Gordon announced on Wednesday that he has joined the Sanders campaign team as deputy director of constituency organizing.

A number of Gordon's tweets feature homophobic slurs.

Other tweets—some of which Gordon deleted after the Free Beacon made a request for comment—make anti-Semitic references to "Jew money."

Gordon also sent numerous racist and misogynistic tweets.

Gordon, like other Sanders staffers and surrogates, backs the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, which aims to destroy Israel through economic means.

 

Gordon, who joined the Sanders campaign in November, is the latest in a string of Sanders aides and surrogates who have made disparaging remarks toward Jews and Israel. Belén Sisa, Sanders's national deputy press secretary, questioned in a Facebook post whether the "American-Jewish community has a dual allegiance to the state of Israel," while Linda Sarsour, a Sanders surrogate, has attacked Jews who support Israel and likened them to white supremacists.

Matt Brooks, president of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said the anti-Semitic remarks from Gordon will further the Sanders campaign's image problem in the Jewish community and called for Gordon to be fired.

"Sanders’ campaign already has an image problem in the Jewish community, after he proposed withholding military aid to Israel and appointed Linda Sarsour as a campaign surrogate," Brooks said in a Friday statement following this report. "This latest incident just confirms that Sanders’ problems run deep."

"It is outrageous that Bernie Sanders would hire him, given Gordon’s history of posting blatantly anti-Semitic comments on social media," Brooks said. "The Sanders campaign should fire him immediately."

Before joining the Sanders campaign, Gordon worked as the national field organizer for the Center for Popular Democracy, a New York-based liberal activist group leading an $80 million anti-Trump network. Ana Maria Archila, the group's co-executive director, made headlines last year when she confronted Sen. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.) in a Capitol Building elevator over his support of then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. CPD took credit for the former senator's decision to call for an FBI investigation into the sexual assault accusations against Kavanaugh.

Gordon did not respond to a request for comment. The Sanders campaign also did not respond to an inquiry by press time.

Update, Friday Dec. 6, 1:10 p.m.: This piece has been updated with comment from the Republican Jewish Coalition.