Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kathy Szeliga wrote on Monday that presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump’s attacks on a federal judge’s Mexican heritage were “insulting to all Americans.”
Szeliga, who is the minority whip in Maryland’s House of Delegates, wrote on her Facebook page that her daughter-in-law is “of Mexican descent.”
“To say that anyone’s ethnic background should disqualify them from public service of any kind – particularly a judge who has sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States – is, by definition, a racist statement,” she wrote.
Trump had said that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over cases against Trump University in California, has a conflict of interest because of his “Mexican heritage.” The businessman has railed against Hispanics since he launched his campaign, when he infamously stated that some undocumented immigrants were “rapists” and “criminals.”
Szeliga said she would support the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, but she’s also said that, as a woman, she was “concerned about some of the things” Trump has said.
Here’s Szeliga’s Facebook post: