Garwood Candidate Jesse Wilson Responds To 'Racist' Allegations

GARWOOD, NJ — Garwood Republican Council candidate Jesse Wilson is speaking out in response to allegations from political officials claiming he shared "racist" social media posts.

"Unfortunately, the destructive and vicious nature of local politics by the Garwood democrats, make it extremely difficult for anyone to step up, and serve their community," said Wilson, who is running for borough council.

Wilson went on to call out Mayor Sara Todisco, a Democrat, who was one of the politicians who called for Wilson to step down.

"I am appalled that the mayor of this borough, known as the small town with a big heart, would share and exploit national level tabloid trash. The local Democrats have taken facebook posts and cropped comments from shared articles meant to spark conversation about extremely important issues that Americans shouldn't be afraid to talk about. I will not be intimidated," Wilson said.

Wilson claims the "Garwood Democrats are attempting to create narratives and blur the truth."

"We are Garwood, we cannot stand for these kind of trash politicians with hyped up hit pieces. Which is why more than ever we need a change," Wilson said.

The allegations came to light after Sen. Thomas Kean (R-Union) along with Garwood Mayor Sara Todisco and Union County Freeholder candidate Joe Sarno asked for Wilson to step down from the election. They pointed to an insidernj.com article alleging Wilson shared racist, homophobic, and misogynistic content on social media. Read More: Kean: Garwood Candidate Should Step Down Over 'Racist' Posts

"Senator Kean strongly condemns racism and bigotry in all its forms," said Kean's campaign manager Theresa Winegar.

Winegar also noted Kean's attendance as a special guest at a kickoff campaign party on Saturday for Wilson and another Gardwood Republican Council candidate, Joseph Nicastro, saying: "Had the campaign been aware of these social media posts, Senator Kean never would have attended this event."

District 7 Representative Tom Malinowski, who is running for re-election against Kean, criticized his opponent's appearance at Wilson's fundraiser.

"Hateful ideologies flourish when people like Tom Kean Jr. validate instead of condemning them," said Congressman Tom Malinowski. "In the House, I’ve worked with Republicans and Democrats to combat white supremacy and hate-filled ideologies on the right and left. Someone who embraces their proponents has no place in Congress."

The Garwood Republican Party claims the allegations were used as a way "to distract and intimidate" their candidates after they listed out $800,000 in wasted spending by the Garwood Democrats.

"To distract and intimidate our candidates the Democrats responded by lowering themselves to gutter politics we thought we only see at the National Level this time of year. We at the Garwood GOP took our time to investigate the false allegations by Mayor Sara Todisco against candidate Jesse Wilson and stand by him. We are NOT a part of the cancel culture. We will stick to the issues important to Garwood like the local government handouts to friends," the Garwood Republican Party stated.

The Garwood GOP also asked Todisco and the Garwood Democrats for a public apology "for their embarrassing social media claims."

Garwood Democrats Russ Graham and Vincent Kearney, who are also running for election, issued a letter condemning Wilson's most recent video remarks.

"Mr. Wilson has shown himself, through a litany of now widely shared social media posts, to be racist, mysoginistic, homophobic and transphobic. This is not the Garwood we know, nor will we stand by and watch Garwood become any of these things or be painted with that brush by anyone, let alone a Council candidate," Graham and Kearney wrote. "Even more appalling than Mr. Wilson’s conduct is his response, posted recently on a video to a local Facebook group, where he takes no responsibility for his actions... Bigoted hatred has no home in Garwood. We will be here to remind you of that fact repeatedly from now until Election Day."

See below to hear Wilson's full response:

See below for Graham and Kearney's full letter:

This is not what we expected to be doing during our campaign for Garwood Borough Council, but we must set aside the usual issues we would normally discuss to directly address what has come to light in the last few days. The recently revealed online commentary of Jesse Wilson, who is running with the full support of the Garwood Republican Committee after they endorsed him to run in the July primary election, is disgusting and we condemn his conduct in the strongest possible terms.

Mr. Wilson has shown himself, through a litany of now widely shared social media posts, to be racist, mysoginistic, homophobic and transphobic. This is not the Garwood we know, nor will we stand by and watch Garwood become any of these things or be painted with that brush by anyone, let alone a Council candidate. Garwood is known as “the small town with a big heart” and we intend to keep it that way!

Even more appalling than Mr. Wilson’s conduct is his response, posted recently on a video to a local Facebook group, where he takes no responsibility for his actions and shows he has no interest in growing or learning as he uses the “laugh” emoji to respond to residents voicing concerns in Facebook comments. In his response, he doubles down on everything he has already done. He does not deny he wrote the posts. He also does not deny that he was using another social media account with a fake name in addition to his own, while trying to concoct a national level conspiracy of “scare tactics” to intimidate him.

This is not just politics and this is not just Republican or Democrat. Mr. Wilson was condemned by fellow Republicans Senator Tom Kean Jr. (who just days before headlined a fundraiser for him) and former Garwood Councilman Joe Sarno. Both even called for him to step off the ballot. Sadly, as of this writing, we have not seen or heard a statement of any kind from Mr. Wilson’s running mate Joe Nicastro, but we would like to acknowledge numerous residents (including many Republicans) who have both publicly and privately expressed their disgust over Mr. Wilson’s comments and actions to us.

Mr. Wilson closes his remarkably angry video by saying, “Garwood Democrats are attempting to create narratives and blur the truth.”

Here is a narrative for you, Jesse, and we assure you it is true: Bigoted hatred has no home in Garwood. We will be here to remind you of that fact repeatedly from now until Election Day.

— Councilman Russ Graham and Vincent Kearney, Council Candidates, Democrats for Garwood

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