Divided GOP: House candidate Seri Kim loses support after ‘racist’ remarks

Representatives Michelle Steel and Young Kim, who represent districts from the state of California in the United States House of Representatives as members of the Republican Party withdrew their support for the candidature of Seri Kim, who is running from the Republican side the sixth congressional district of Texas seat to fill in for former Representative Ron Wright, who passed away earlier this year after testing positive for COVID-19. 

The retraction of support came after the GOP candidate made alleged racist statements against the Asian American community at a candidate forum held on Wednesday. While addressing the immigration situation of the United States, Seri Kim said that she does not want immigrants from China in the US at all. 

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She went on to add that the Chinese immigrants steal “intellectual property, they give us coronavirus, they don’t hold themselves accountable,” while basing the argument on her Korean origin. 

The California Representatives jointly stated that they spoke to Seri Kim “about her hurtful and untrue comments about Chinese immigrants, and made clear that her comments were unacceptable.”

Representatives Michelle Steel and Young Kim, while citing the rise in hate crimes against the Asian-American community, added that the Republican candidate “has not publicly shown remorse, and her words were contrary to what we stand for. We cannot in good conscience continue to support her candidacy. We will continue to speak out in support of our AAPI community.”

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However, a day after the candidate forum, Seri Kim clarified that her comments were not mean for the Asian American community but directed towards the Communist Party of China. She later added that she still did not wish to reverse any remarks made in the forum and will continue to stand by them. 

Seri Kim has previously served under former US President Donald Trump as an assistant administrator in the Small Business Administration.