Missouri Democrats expel from caucus lawmaker who promoted antisemitism, conspiracy theories

Missouri House Democrats on Thursday voted to expel state Rep. Sarah Unsicker from their caucus after she promoted a series of conspiracy theories on social media, posted a photo with an alleged Holocaust denier and made antisemitic comments against one of her opponents.

House Democratic leaders, led by Minority Leader Crystal Quade, announced the decision in a joint statement Thursday, saying that the caucus was “dedicated to the values of inclusiveness, tolerance and respect.”

“When a member fails to uphold those standards, the caucus has a duty to act,” the statement said. “Rep. Unsicker is free to choose her associations, but the caucus enjoys that same freedom. As a result, House Democrats today voted to end its association with Rep. Unsicker by expelling her as a caucus member.”

Minutes before the announcement, Unsicker, a Democrat from Shrewsbury in St. Louis County, put out a statement on social media that she said was a copy of her prepared remarks to House Democrats. In the statement, she said “the charges against me are a character assassination from a wing of the party that I want nothing to do with.”

Unsicker, in the lengthy statement, also included a list of Democrats who have been charged with crimes.

“I hope you will not kick me out of the Missouri House Democratic Caucus,” she said. “I plan to continue my work to make Missouri a better place for families and children. But whatever happens today, I will remain a member of Joe Biden’s democratic party.”

Unsicker did not respond to a request for additional comment.

While expelling Unsicker from the caucus does not stop her from being a member of the legislature elected as a Democrat, it bars her from attending Democratic caucus meetings, making decisions on behalf of House Democrats and having access to caucus staff members.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether House Democrats would push to move Unsicker’s office space, which is on the first floor of the Missouri Capitol.

Unsicker was previously running in the Democratic primary for attorney general, before dropping out of the race last week. Quade also stripped the Democratic lawmaker of her committee assignments earlier this month.

In her statement announcing that she was dropping out of the race last week, Unsicker made an antisemitic attack against her Democratic opponent, Elad Gross, a former assistant state attorney general who is Jewish. She claimed without evidence that Gross was a foreign agent to Israel, a claim that Gross called “detached from reality.”

The bizarre controversy surrounding Unsicker appears to have started earlier this month, when she posted a series of tweets on X, formerly known as Twitter, claiming that social media criticism over legislation to make cashew chicken the official state dish was part of a “distraction campaign.”

In two separate tweet threads, Unsicker posted a photo of herself with Charles Johnson, a right wing activist whom the Anti-Defamation League condemns as a “Holocaust denier and alt-right troll” who asserted in a since-deleted 2017 Reddit post that the number of Jewish people killed in the Holocaust was false.

Since those posts, Unsicker has remained active on social media and on her Substack newsletter, including a post that claimed without evidence “credible allegations recently regarding foreign interference in elections in Missouri.”

The Democratic lawmaker forwarded this allegation to House lawmakers and to Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.

Ashcroft, who is running for governor in 2024, refuted Unsicker’s claims earlier this week, saying in a statement that his office has “not been provided any evidence that even remotely relates to Missouri election interference.”

“The information provided thus far does not indicate any violation of Missouri Election Law,” he said. “Therefore; without additional information and specific allegations regarding the election violation we can take no further action.”

Controversies ahead of session

The move to expel Unsicker also comes as House Republicans will head into the legislative session with a cloud of controversy hanging over their top Republican leader, Speaker Dean Plocher.

Plocher faces an ongoing investigation from the House Ethics Committee and calls to resign related to a slew of scandals, including revelations that he received government reimbursements for expenses already paid for by his campaign.

He also faces scrutiny from the ethics committee over his decision in October to fire his previous chief of staff, who may have been a whistleblower, and alleged threats against a House staffer related to his push for the House to issue an expensive contract to an outside company to manage constituent information.

And on Wednesday, Plocher generated controversy once again after The Missouri Independent reported that the Missouri House spent $60,000 in taxpayer money renovating Plocher’s office, including $29,000 on new furniture.

A majority of House Republicans still appear to be backing Plocher and are waiting for the ethics committee to release a report on his actions. However, some Republicans, including state Rep. Adam Schwadron from St. Charles and state Rep. Mazzie Christensen from Hamilton, have called for him to step aside as speaker.

The two controversies on both sides of the aisle could threaten to upend the chamber’s work during the start of session, which begins Jan. 3.

“This first week of session is definitely going to be a little chaotic I think if both of those things are happening,” Schwadron told The Star on Wednesday. “It’ll be the first time back for everyone.”

Schwadron said he thinks some Republicans who are privately backing Plocher might change their mind if a vote to remove him as speaker were to come to the floor.

“Being public about it is a whole different story,” he said.

However, House Majority Leader Jonathan Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican who supports Plocher, said that the chamber’s rules would not allow for that to happen.

“Republicans are supporting due process more than any one person,” he said. “I think that’s why you’re seeing a Republican call to await the ethics committee’s findings.”