For months Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart's campaign website, re-elect.stanstanart.com, was dominated by an attack on George Soros, the billionaire political donor who's become a lightning rod for anti-Semitic groups, white supremacists and conspiracy theorists.

In 2016, Soros donated a large amount of money to the Democrat running for Harris County district attorney. But Soros has no connection to the county clerk's duties or to any current Harris County race, including Stanart's.

After the Houston Chronicle posted an article Tuesday in which observers described the Soros attack as a "dog whistle" to anti-Semites, references to Soros disappeared from the site.

In the main article on Stanart's website, the words "George Soros" and "Soros" have been replaced with the words "Liberal Socialist Democrats."

Now, instead of "Make NO mistake, George Soros wants to control Harris County Election and Stan Stanart is in his way," the site says, "Make NO mistake, Liberal Socialist Democrats want to control Harris County Elections and Stan Stanart is in their way."

The photo of Soros has given way to a collage showing Democrats Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.

Stanart had no comment.

On Facebook Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, a fellow Republican, said he discussed the matter with Stanart on Tuesday, after a Houston rabbi brought the matter to his attention. The rabbi asked not to be named in this article.

Throughout the day Tuesday, the commissioner and rabbi exchanged emails, with the rabbi explaining to Emmett that though Stanart's site didn't identify Soros as a Jew, Soros' name "has become a banner" for the anti-Semitic idea that Jews want to achieve world domination.

"What I hope we can agree on," she wrote, "is that the time demands for ALL of us to be careful with our language, how we speak to and about one another, and to be really cognizant of the consequences of our speech."

At 9:30 p.m. that night -- after the Chronicle's article had been posted -- Emmett wrote the rabbi: "Finally... Stan has taken all Soros references off his campaign website... He should not get beat up for doing the right thing, I hope."

The official response of the Harris County Republican Party was very different. Wednesday, in a press release, it called the Chronicle's article a "divisive partisan attack" driven by "a desperate attempt to gin up listless Democrat turnout."