WASHINGTON (JTA) — Josh Mandel, the Jewish Ohio treasurer who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012, will not return a campaign donation from a white supremacist.
The Mandel campaign received $1,500 from Earl Holt, the president of the Council of Conservative Citizens, in an unsuccessful bid to defeat incumbent Sherrod Brown.
“The money he donated was spent over 2 1/2 years ago, so it cannot be returned,” Mandel’s spokesman, Chris Berry, told the Toledo Blade on Tuesday.
An array of Republican candidates who have received donations from Holt are returning his donations in the wake of reports that the man alleged to have killed nine black worshippers in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, was inspired by the group.
Dylann Roof, the 21-year old in custody, is not known to have had any ties with Holt’s group.
Among the Republicans who have returned the funds to Holt or donated their equivalent to a charity, including one in memory of the nine victims, are three presidential candidates: Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.
