A Republican congressional candidate backed by President Donald Trump responded to a leaked video by placing blame elsewhere.
Joe Mitchell, who is running in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, did not deny the video’s authenticity in a statement to the Daily Mail.
The outlet published footage Friday that it reported showed Mitchell making comments about Black women, white people, and his Black friends’ bodies during a college gathering.
“I don’t like Black women!” Mitchell shouts at the start of the clip, according to the report. Later, he says he wants to marry a Black woman and does not want white children.
Mitchell, now 29, was 19 when the video was recorded. He also responded to his crude racial remarks by saying he had grown up — and found “better friends.”
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“My entire generation has had a camera in their face since we were born,” he told the Daily Mail. “I was 19, in college, and I have grown up.”
“Since graduating college, I found some better friends …,” he added.
His attorney also did not dispute the footage’s authenticity, instead accusing “political foes” of trying to damage his campaign.
The response left the remarks themselves largely unaddressed as Mitchell competes against Democrat Lindsay James for an open U.S. House seat. Trump and Turning Point Action have endorsed the Republican, and the Cook Political Report rates the race a toss-up, according to the supplied report.
The woman who provided the footage told the Daily Mail that it was recorded in 2017, when Mitchell attended Drake University. She knew him in college but wasn’t in the room when it was recorded.
She said voters deserve “the full picture” of the candidate.
The video runs just under two minutes and includes several cuts. It shows Mitchell in a bedroom with young men the outlet identified as his Black friends.
During one exchange, Mitchell says he wants to marry a Black woman. A friend questions why he is discussing marriage at 19.
“I want my kids to not be white,” Mitchell responds.
Asked why, he says he does not like white people, adding profanity and pointing to his decision to spend time with people who are not white.
The conversation later turns to an argument about penis size. Mitchell invokes his friends’ skin color while insisting his is larger. One friend calls him racist.
“You guys are the racist ones!” Mitchell shouts back before the clip ends.
A man who knew Mitchell in college told the Daily Mail that Mitchell frequently said he wanted to marry a Black woman and did not want white children.
The woman who shared the video rejected the idea that his age excused his behavior.
“We are all drunk and young once, but that doesn’t make us any less accountable for our words,” she said.
The report comes as Mitchell has drawn attention for publicly praising Trump. At a Thursday rally in Sioux City, he presented the president with a homemade, gold-framed “Man of the Century” award.
Mitchell said he created the honor because Trump had not received the Nobel Peace Prize. James later dismissed the presentation in a fundraising email as a “photo-op with Donald Trump.”
