Vulnerable New Jersey U.S. Representative Tom Malinowski (D-NJ-7) is under fire for an anti-parent rant.
At a town hall, Malinowski referred to parents’ concerns about their kids’ education as “made-up cultural bulls**t because they want power. Not because they actually care about us.”
First reported by Breitbart, Malinowski was asked a question at a town hall about what he was doing to protect teachers, children and “their identity.”
Malinowski responded, “When I was talking about crazy, there are a lot of examples. One of the crazy things happening in America right now is we’ve got a political movement that says they care about kids, because the way they express that care is by banning books,” he said. “And they don’t want to do a damn thing about the guns. Think about that.”
Malinowski continued by blasting parents who are concerned about what materials their children have access to in school.
“I never had a single kid in a class raise their hand and say you know, Congressman, there’s this book in the library that I shouldn’t be allowed to read. For God’s sakes,” he exclaimed. “And yet there’s this fringe movement that has descended on our school boards that is targeting our teachers, targeting our educators.”
Malinowski further minimized the concerns of “the ones going to school boards” about the issue of biological males competing in girls’ sports.
“And people acting as though the number one threat to America is transgender girls playing on sports teams, I had somebody ask me about that and then say that there are thousands of people that are going to vote against you unless you stand up to the threat of transgender girls playing on sports teams,” he said. And I’m like, where does that happen? Is there a single town that I represent, of 75 towns, where like there is an epidemic of that happening? There isn’t. It doesn’t happen.”
Malinowski’s comments echo former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe’s comments on parents’ rights, which most observers say cost him the 2021 Virginia race for governor. McAuliffe said in a debate, “I’m not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decision. I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), which is targeting Malinowski for defeat, blasted him in a release.
“Tom Malinowski recently went ‘on a tirade against parents taking issue with what their children are learning in school,'” Breitbart reports.
The release positioned the congressman as being in the pocket of the teacher’s unions.
“Malinowski – who has received tens of thousands of dollars from teachers’ unions – said the transparency in education movement is because parents want power, not because they actually care about us,” the release said.
NRCC spokesman Samantha Bullock responded to Malinowski’s comments.
“Tom Malinowski is the latest Democrat who will pay the price for dismissing parents’ concerns about their children’s educations,” she said.
Malinowski, who represented a swing D+3 district prior to redistricting, became even more vulnerable after the new lines were drawn. Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight gives New Jersey’s new 7th Congressional District a R+3 partisan rating. The Cook Political Report gives the race a Lean Republican rating.
Malinowski had raised $3,505,443.71 for his reelect and had $2,748,801.55 on hand as of the December 31, 2021, FEC finance deadline.
Republican challenger, New Jersey State Senator Tom Kean, has raised $1,151,783.06 and has $933,017.85 on hand. Kean is the grandson of former U.S. Representative Robert Kean and son of former Governor Thomas H. Kean, Sr.
If Kean gets the nomination, then this race will be a rematch of the 2020 election. Malinowski narrowly beat Kean by just 1.2% in that election under the old district lines. The old NJ-7 went for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020.
The primary is scheduled to take place on June 7.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR.
