| Just days after launching his congressional campaign, Long Island Republican Peter Oberacker is already mired in scandal. A bombshell Politico investigation reveals that his former communications director, Bobby Walker—who was expected to assume the role of campaign manager—was a central figure in a vile GOP group chat filled with rape jokes, racist slurs, antisemitic hate, and violent rhetoric.
Walker, who was vice chair of the New York State Young Republicans at the time, didn’t just fail to stop it — he was an active participant.
In his own messages, Walker joked about rape being “epic,” tossed around the word “faggot,” made inappropriate comments about Chinese people and mocked POWs by saying he liked his heroes “not captured.”
But instead of taking accountability for his actions, Walker is now making excuses, saying that the chat “may have been altered, taken out of context” and that the messages “were obtained and released in a way clearly intended to inflict harm.”
Let’s be clear: This is the man Peter Oberacker surrounded himself with for half a decade and trusted to run his campaign.
DCCC Spokesperson Riya Vashi:
“Peter Oberacker’s campaign is barely a week old and it’s already drowning in scandal. Hiring someone who jokes about rape and spews racist, homophobic slurs isn’t just a lapse in judgment — it’s a reflection of values. And it tells Upstate voters everything they need to know about what kind of campaign Oberacker is running.” |
