Seth Grossman, a congressional candidate who was endorsed by the National Republican Congressional Committee after winning last week’s GOP primary, is doubling down on controversial comments he made in April slamming the Democratic Party’s idea of diversity.

A video posted last week by American Bridge to the 21st Century, a political action committee monitoring GOP candidates, captured Mr. Grossman at an April 21 event in Pittsgrove telling a crowd that diversity is “crap” and “un-American.”

“In my view, the best way to bring diversity to the Republican Party is for Republicans to openly say that the whole idea of diversity is a bunch of crap and un-American,” he said in the video, which was first reported Monday by The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“The Constitution was designed to incorporate that idea of the Declaration of Independence that everybody is treated equally under the law,” Mr. Grossman continued. “Now, what diversity has become, it’s been an excuse by Democrats, communists and socialists, basically, to say that we’re not all created equal, that some people, if he — if somebody is lesser qualified, they will get a job anyway, or they’ll get into college anyway because of the tribe that they’re with, what group, what box they fit into.

“You know, women, African-American, Hispanic; they’re chopping us up in these different pieces and getting us fighting against each other instead of spending our time saying everybody should be judged by their own talent,” he added.

The comments went viral, prompting Mr. Grossman’s campaign to expand on the statements in a Facebook post Monday.

“Republicans need to push back and point out the obvious,” the campaign said. “‘Diversity’ is not a virtue. America did not become great because of ‘diversity.’ America became great because our Constitution, our culture of liberty, and our Judeo-Christian heritage of ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself’ created ‘boundless’ opportunities that let Americans of every race, ethnic group, and gender succeed. When America was great, we understood and agreed with the slogan written on every American coin: ‘E pluribus unum’ — out of many comes one —one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”

Mr. Grossman, an Atlantic County attorney, will face off in November against state Sen. Jeff Van Drew to represent New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District. He captured 39 percent of the vote in a stunning upset against Linwood businessman Hirsh Singh on June 5.

Van Drew campaign spokesman Michael Muller said the Democratic nominee was “quite disappointed” by Mr. Grossman’s comments.

“As a strong supporter of diversity and inclusion, Senator Van Drew is quite disappointed with Seth Grossman’s comments, and feels diversity plays a large role in our success as a nation,” Mr. Muller said in a statement. “Senator Van Drew wants to be a congressman that embraces our diversity because that has been the foundation of America’s success for generations as a land of opportunity.”

In a local TV interview, Mr. Grossman said efforts to paint him as a racist are ill-founded.

“I basically said that diversity is a code word or a dog whistle word for an agenda where you pick people based on what race or ethnic group what sexual preference or what sex they are as opposed to their character, talent, or how much work they do,” he told FOX29. “And I think that’s ridiculous. It’s un-American. I actually think it’s disgusting.”

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