Ohio GOP Senate candidate defends running ad about opponent's religion: 'He's Jewish -- everyone should know!'

Ohio Republican Senate hopeful Mark Pukita on Thursday defended running an ad about opponent Josh Mandel's religion.

Politico's Natalie Allison reports that Pukita was asked during a primary debate about an ad his campaign released that pointed out Mandel is Jewish.

The candidate responded that he felt the need to point out Mandel's faith so that voters didn't get the false impression that he was a Christian.

"In terms of anti-Semitism, all I did in an ad was pointed out that Josh is going around saying he's got the Bible in one hand and the constitution in the other," he said. "But he's Jewish — everybody should know that though, right?"

Fellow GOP Senate hopeful Bernie Moreno then jumped in to defend Mandel and chide any candidate who would make his religion an issue in the campaign.

"Josh, nobody should question your faith," he said. "That's not right. The Jewish religion, the Bible is the Bible. That was hard to hear. I'm sorry about that. That's not right. We're better than that, guys."

Allison also reports that Pukita boasted during the debate that he was the only person on the stage who had not been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.