Anti-Semitic robocalls on behalf of GOP congressional candidate make rounds in East Bay

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Congressional candidate John Fitzgerald denies the Holocaust ever happened and says Israel uses Congress and American soldiers in their quest for world domination.

Even so, he says he never authorized the anti-Semitic robocall that's asking people to vote for him. Fitzgerald is from Concord and is running as a Republican against Congressman Mark DeSaulnier.

Many in the East Bay district have never heard of Fitzgerald, but when voter Anne Nicolson listened to the robocall supporting his candidacy, it brought her to tears. She's co-president of Women of B'Nai Shalom in Walnut Creek.

"Unfortunately it seems to me that our world is going in the way of big lies right now and it's a very troubling time to be alive," said Nicolson.

The robocall says it was paid for by TheRoadToPower.com, which has paid for similar racist messages in the past. In an email to ABC7, Fitzgerald says, "I have NO affiliation to Road To Power nor any of his/their affiliates, organizations or otherwise, and nor will I ever in the future."

But the rhetoric in the robocall is consistent with what Fitzgerald said last month in a podcast with The Realist Report.

"It all started with what I say is Jewish control and supremacy and that lovely state/country called Israel that does all these horrible atrocities and blames them all on everybody else and vilifies everybody else," said Fitzgerald.

When asked what he thought of the robocall, Congressman Mark DeSaulnier said, "It's not going to resonate in California, Contra Costa County. People are open-minded, tolerant, good people."

As for the Republican Party, it has rejected Fitzgerald's campaign from the very beginning and regarding the robocall, RNC Committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon says it may be a blessing in disguise.

"People who might not have known he was anti-Semitic before will surely know that if they get this call. So I don't think it's going to help him in the polls which is a good thing I guess in a way," said Dhillon.

Fitzgerald registered as a Republican only a couple years ago. He ran as a Democrat in 2010 and 2012.