Elise Stefanik invokes racist 'great replacement' theory in campaign ads

New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, the third-ranked Republican in the House, began running a series of campaign ads on Facebook on Wednesday invoking a racist conspiracy theory that falsely alleges that immigrants are being invited to the United States to replace white voters.

The campaign for Stefanik, who is up for reelection in November 2022 for New York’s 22nd Congressional District, is promoting ads that read:” Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Nancy Pelosi are attempting to flood our voter roles with 11 MILLION NEW VOTERS by giving illegal immigrants amnesty.”

The ads link to a fundraising page featuring similar copy, which alleges, “Democrats want citizenship for 11 MILLION illegal immigrants… so they can stuff the ballot box for socialism.”

Stefanik’s ads make reference to efforts made by Democrats, including President Joe Biden, to create a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 10.3 million undocumented immigrants currently residing in the United States.

The ads also invoke the conspiracy theory known as “the great replacement,” which the Anti-Defamation League has defined as “the hateful notion that the white race is in danger of being ‘replaced’ by a rising tide of non-whites.”

Messages that promote the theory have become increasingly common among Republican elected officials and in conservative media.

In 2016, as he was running for office, former President Donald Trump said, “I think this will be the last election that the Republicans have a chance of winning because you’re going to have people flowing across the border, you’re going to have illegal immigrants coming in and they’re going to be legalized and they’re going to be able to vote and once that all happens you can forget it.”

Fox News has also latched on to the message and many of its on-air personalities have spent the ensuing years repeating and amplifying the racist smear.

The most prominent advocate on the network has been host Tucker Carlson, who has invoked the idea on numerous occasions.

“I have less political power because they are importing a brand new electorate. Why should I sit back and take that?” Carlson said on the April 8 edition of his program.

In an April 9 letter to Fox News executives, Anti-Defamation League CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt called on Fox News to fire Carlson for using the trope.

“It is dangerous race-baiting, extreme rhetoric. And yet, unfortunately, it is the culmination of a pattern of increasingly divisive rhetoric used by Carlson over the past few years,” the letter read.

But Carlson was undeterred. On April 12, Carlson said on his program, “Demographic change is the key to the Democratic Party’s political ambitions.” And on April 21, Carlson told his audience, “You’re being replaced, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Other Fox News hosts, including Laura Ingraham, Brian Kilmeade, and Jesse Watters, have also promoted the same racist “replacement” trope.

And Republicans in Congress have followed suit.

In a campaign video released on April 11, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) falsely claimed that Democrats “want borders wide open,” alleging that this “helped Democrats take over the entire state of California” in the past.

During a congressional hearing on April 14, Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) claimed, “We’re replacing national-born American — native-born Americans to permanently transform the political landscape of this very nation.”

Two days later, on April 16, while appearing on Fox Business, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) attacked Democrats on immigration, asking, “Is it really they want to remake the demographics of America, to ensure their — that they stay in power forever? Is that what’s happening here?”

The theory has had deadly real-world implications. It was cited in a manifesto left behind by the white supremacist who shot and killed 51 people and injured 40 in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019. The idea was also invoked by neo-Nazis who protested in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, using the slogan, “Jews will not replace us.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.