Hateful Missouri Republican Steve West's Kids Beg Voters Not to Vote for Their Dad

Republican candidate for Missouri General Assembly District 15, Steve West, has a reputation for spouting homophobic, anti-Semitic, and racist comments on his radio show and on a YouTube channel where he puts on a curly black wig and a fake beard and calls himself "Jack Justice."

Now, two of the 64-year-old's three adult children are urging voters to steer clear of voting for their dad, according to The Kansas City Star.

"A lot of his views are just very out there. He's made multiple comments that are racist and homophobic and [about] how he doesn't like the Jews," West's daughter Emily West said. "I can't imagine him being in any level of government."

West's hateful comments leading up to the election include a particularly disgusting anti-Semitic comment he made on his radio show this August.

"Looking back in history, unfortunately, Hitler was right about what was taking place in Germany. And who was behind it," he said.

The statement was so despicable that the Missouri Republican Party instantly distanced itself from him:

"Steve West's shocking and vile comments do not reflect the position of the Missouri Republican Party or indeed of any decent individual. West's abhorrent rhetoric has absolutely no place in the Missouri Republican Party or anywhere. We wholeheartedly condemn his comments."

But Emily West is not the only one in West's family who've condemned his hateful rhetoric. His son Andy West also gave a statement to the Kansas City Star denouncing his father's bigotry.

"My dad's a fanatic. He must be stopped. His ideology is pure hatred. It's totally insane," Andy West said.

"If he gets elected, it would legitimize him. Then he would become a state official, and he's saying that Jews shouldn't even have civil rights," Andy West said.

Despite West's history of hateful statements about Jewish people, he told the Kansas City Star that he condemns the actions of a shooter, motivated by hatred of Jewish people, who claimed 11 lives Saturday in a massacre during a bris at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

"I absolutely renounce what took place there," he said. "I have never, never suggested anything like that. When stuff like that happens, it is a terrible travesty and injustice. I would never condone any violence against any people because of a specific race or religion or anything else."

One of West's campaign platforms included "education reform" in response to North Kansas City School District electing its first transgender homecoming queen. On LGBTQ issues, he's also said, "Many parents and students don't want to have to deal with alternative sex ed, and the LGBT clubs and staff at all the public high schools today."

West has called Islam a "political movement masquerading as a religion" and argued that Islam should not receive benefits reserved for religious institutions.

Both Emily and Andrew West said that on a recent drive through Clay County, which covers Gladstone and parts of Kansas City, they were dismayed to see the sheer number of pro-West campaign signs littering people's lawns.

"I think it's just insane that people are putting out his signs," Emily West said. "You see his signs everywhere. I don't understand how people can put out his signs knowing the comments that he's made."