In Tucson, campaign signs for a Jewish candidate for the Arizona Senate were defaced with hand-lettered placards bearing an antisemitic and misogynistic slur. The vandalism was crude, but it did not come from nowhere.
For months, members of Southern Arizona’s Jewish community have watched a pattern take shape in a local primary campaign: a candidate’s Jewish identity, and her belief in the Jewish people’s right to self-determination, treated as grounds for suspicion and attack. What began as rhetoric online has now shown up on the street.
In response, dozens of community leaders, elected officials, clergy, and organizations from across Arizona have signed the joint statement below. They are not weighing in on a race. They are drawing a line.
The Community Statement
Arizona and Tucson Community Statement in Response to Anti-Jewish Hate During Election Cycle
This week in Tucson, the campaign signs of a Jewish, female, Latina candidate for public office were defaced in large red letters with the words ‘Zionist Bitch’. This is both antisemitic and misogynistic.
This incident did not happen in a vacuum. During the current election cycle, the word ‘Zionist’, the belief that Jews, like other peoples, have a right to self-determination, has been used as a repetitive slur against Jewish candidates.
This targeted rhetoric marks Jewish identity as outside the boundaries of civic belonging. To weaponize that identity against a public servant is antisemitic, misogynistic, and meant to intimidate. When this kind of rhetoric is normalized in local politics, it does not stay contained in campaign messaging or social media. It shows up on our streets.
As community leaders and elected officials in Arizona, we share a responsibility to speak out when rhetoric targets or marginalizes members of our community for their identity. Speaking out is not only about supporting one particular group or one particular candidate; it is about upholding the principle that all people should be able to participate in public life without being targeted because of who they are. Hatred and bigotry, in any form, deserve a clear and consistent response.
Tucson’s civic life is strongest when disagreement does not turn into dehumanization. In Tucson and across Arizona, we will not stand by when public servants and members of our community are attacked or intimidated for who they are.
As such, we as community leaders, candidates, elected officials, and advocacy organizations across Arizona stand with the Jewish community, condemn this defacement clearly, and reaffirm that Jews, women, and Latina public servants belong fully in our civic life.
The statement remains open for signatures. Add your name.
