St. Louis, MO – Missouri House Democrats voted Thursday to expel state Rep. Sarah Unsicker from their caucus after the Shrewsbury legislator was accused of spreading an antisemitic accusation that her Jewish political opponent in the race for attorney general was working for the Israeli government.
The action, announced in a news release Thursday afternoon, marked the latest escalation against Unsicker, who has kept her job as a state representative following initial criticism sparked by a separate social media post on Dec. 3 in which she posed with a conspiracy theorist and man labeled by the Anti-Defamation League as a Holocaust denier.
“The House Democratic Caucus is dedicated to the values of inclusiveness, tolerance and respect. When a member fails to uphold those standards, the caucus has a duty to act,” House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, said Thursday.
“Rep. Unsicker is free to choose her associations, but the caucus enjoys that same freedom,” Quade said. “As a result, House Democrats today voted to end its association with Rep. Unsicker by expelling her as a caucus member.”
Unsicker, in a blog post, on Thursday described the charges against her as “character assassination from a wing of the party that I want nothing to do with. I do not believe anyone is being honest about the reasons they want to remove me from the House Democratic Caucus.”
She also pointed the finger at various Missouri Democrats who have been convicted of crimes.
“If I had known how much criminality there was within our party, I probably wouldn’t have run for office,” Unsicker said.
Days after Unsicker’s Dec. 3 social media post, Quade on Dec. 7 removed Unsicker from her committee assignments, leaving open the possibility that Democrats would move to oust her from the caucus in the future.
Unsicker continued to post on social media, and on Dec. 12, state Rep. Keri Ingle called for Unsicker’s ouster from the caucus.
Unsicker, in a video shared on social media Dec. 14, said she had received a “criminal complaint” that alleged her then-opponent in Democratic primary for Missouri attorney general, Elad Gross, had failed to register as a foreign agent for the state of Israel. Unsicker said she had forwarded the complaint to the Missouri secretary of state.
Eric Garland, the conspiracy theorist Unsicker was pictured with Dec. 3, also accuses Gross’ mother of working for the Israeli government.
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s office this week said the Republican’s office was made aware of “election interference claims” last week by Unsicker, who the office said “provided a third-party narrative statement.”
Ashcroft said Monday “we have not been provided any evidence that even remotely relates to Missouri election interference.”
In that same video, Unsicker said, “I will not be running against Elad Gross in the Democratic primary for Missouri attorney general.”
Speaking on the situation Thursday, Gross said, “there is unfortunately a very classic, common antisemitic trope of dual loyalty — that you have a loyalty to Israel above everything else, and just by virtue of being Jewish.”
Gross said Thursday “it’s unfortunate what’s happened, I’m very worried for her, considering that I’ve known her for seven years and I did not really see this one coming.
“I really do not think it’s appropriate for her to continue being a legislator,” Gross said.
