'Counter-Semitic' candidate runs as Republican in California Senate race

William Cummings | USA TODAY

A Holocaust denier who praises Adolf Hitler and aims to "remove the Jews from power" is running as a Republican for a U.S. Senate seat out of California — and a recent poll found him in second place trailing only incumbent Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Patrick Little got more support than any other Republican candidate in an April 27 SurveyUSA poll. Little polled at 18%, compared with Feinstein's 39%. The next highest-performing GOP candidate came in at 8%.

Republican leaders in California are working hard to distance themselves from the self-described "counter-Semitic candidate."

"Mr. Little has never been an active member of our party. I do not know Mr. Little and I am not familiar with his positions," said Matt Fleming, the communications director for the California Republican Party in a statement. "But in the strongest terms possible, we condemn anti-Semitism and any other form of religious bigotry, just as we do with racism, sexism or anything else that can be construed as a hateful point of view."

On his blog, Little identifies himself as "the only America first candidate in California." He also asserts that there is no evidence the Germans killed 6 million Jews during World War II and that Hitler ordered that "Jews in internment were to be treated well."

According to Little, who has won the endorsement of former KKK leader David Duke, "there were concert halls, swimming polls, soccer fields, ice cream, and many other luxuries at Auschwitz."

On top of that, Little has called Hitler "one of the greatest leaders in history," vowed that "America will no longer be Israel’s whore" and said President Trump "has caved to the Jewish supremacists who control this country."

Little's poll performance raises the legitimate possibility that he could be the Republican option against Feinstein on November's ballot thanks to California's "jungle primary" in which the top two vote-getters go on to the general election regardless of party.

"For the first time, there is clarity on her likely November opponent," SurveyUSA wrote after releasing its recent poll. "It is Republican Patrick Little, who today polls at 18% overall, but whose rural coalition is strong enough that he ties Feinstein in California's Central Valley."

Little's strong polling is sure to be a topic of conversation and consternation at the California Republican Party's state convention in San Diego this weekend.

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