A Democrat staffer who has worked on campaigns for two vulnerable Ohio candidates was captured on video calling for open borders and labeling those wanting to secure the border as “racist.”
“Open the f—ing border, I don’t give a s— who comes in here,” the staffer, identified and first reported by Ohio.news as Kevin Oyakawa, said on a video during a conversation with a volunteer earlier this month.
“We don’t need border patrol but, [the] issue with even talking about immigration here in Ohio is that it’s a losing issue for Democrats here, for like no f—ing reason other than people’s pure racism,” added Oyakawa, who posted on Facebook that he was hired by the Ohio Coordinated Campaign to “re-elect Sherrod Brown, Congresswoman Emilia Sykes, and other down ballot Democratic candidates.”
“That’s why,” Oyakawa explains, “It’s probably hard to find anything about like where she [Sykes] stands on it.”
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Rep. Emilia Sykes and Sen. Sherrod Brown (Getty Images)
“In terms of the way that she talks with the public, if she has to start talking about immigration, she starts losing.”
Oyakawa’s LinkedIn page, before it was deleted on Thursday, listed him as a regional organizing director in Ohio for the Ohio Democratic Party.
Photos on social media show him canvassing for Sykes and Brown and in a now-deleted Facebook post he wrote that he is “responsible for leading a team of field organizers on day to day operations of the campaign” in Summit and Stark counties.
“Just another guy who is active in the Resistance,” Oyakawa’s Facebook page says along with a photo of him standing with an Emilia Sykes sign with various other volunteers.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, the Sykes campaign said, “Congresswoman Emilia Sykes has worked to deliver increased funding to help secure our border and stop the flow of illegal drugs like fentanyl. She also cosponsored the bipartisan Dignity Act that would address border security and infrastructure, all while her opponent Kevin Coughlin uses the border to play politics.”
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Kevin Oyakawa, top right (Ohio Democratic Party)
Matt Keyes, Brown’s campaign spokesperson, told Fox News Digital, “While Sherrod supports the bipartisan border security bill backed by border patrol agents and has worked with both parties to secure our southern border and keep Ohioans safe from fentanyl by cracking down on the chemical suppliers in China and drug cartels in Mexico, Bernie Moreno opposes these efforts because he isn’t looking out for Ohioans.”
Brown and Sykes’ Republican opponents are blasting Oyakawa’s comments.
Kevin Oyakawa said on Facebook he is “leading a team of field organizers” in Ohio. (Facebook Screenshot)
“Sherrod Brown’s staff is saying the quiet part out loud: Ohio Democrats would rather keep the border open and continue to allow millions of illegals to enter our nation rather than secure the border and protect our communities,” Reagan McCarthy, communications director for Brown’s GOP challenger, Bernie Moreno, told Fox News Digital.
Former Ohio state Sen. Kevin Coughlin, running against Sykes in Ohio’s 13th Congressional District, told Fox News Digital, “Ohioans are already aware of Emilia Sykes’ dangerous open border policies, and now we see what she and her team support behind closed doors. It’s bad enough that Ohio communities are suffering from fentanyl and crime flowing over our borders, but her team has no remorse. And she calls anyone who disagrees with her ‘racist.'”
Sen. Sherrod Brown speaks during a nomination hearing in Washington, D.C., on July 11, 2024. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“It’s disgusting, and Emilia Sykes should condemn this immediately.”
NRCC spokesperson Mike Marinella told Fox News Digital that Sykes “has gone to great lengths to lie to voters about her dangerous open border record, but her staff just said the quiet part out loud.”
“Sykes should be ashamed of her team and apologize immediately.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Ohio Democratic Party for comment but did not receive a response.
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Both Sykes and Brown have faced criticism from their Republican opponents for not being strong enough on illegal immigration. In Brown’s case, his campaign has blanketed radio and television with ads touting his border record.
Sykes, a first-term Democrat who won in 2022 by five points, is defending her seat in a district that includes parts of two counties that former President Trump comfortably won in 2020. The Cook Political Report ranks the race as a “Lean Democrat.”
The race between Moreno and Brown is expected to be a close one as Republicans view it as one of their strongest opportunities to take back control of the Senate in November. The Cook Political report ranks the race as a “toss-up” and recent polling shows the race within the margin of error.