Bozeman-based federal nominee withdraws from consideration following bipartisan backlash

A Bozeman-based nominee to the U.S. State Department withdrew his name from consideration following bipartisan opposition over past inflammatory remarks about race, religion and gender.

Jeremy Carl, a senior fellow with the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank, announced earlier this week on social media that he was withdrawing, indicating his nomination did not have enough support to advance out of committee.

"Under our Constitutional system, that is the role that the Senate has in deciding Presidential appointments at this level and I accept that political reality, and do not wish to have the President, Secretary Rubio, or the rest of his team waste valuable time and energy attempting to change that decision," Carl wrote on X.

Anticipating that all Democrats would vote against his nomination, Carl would have needed the approval of every Republican senator on the committee to advance. Utah Sen. John Curtis previously said that he would not support the nomination, citing Carl's “anti-Israel views and insensitive remarks about the Jewish people.”

Last month, Carl was grilled by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about his past racist and antisemitic statements. At the hearing, he took responsibility for some inflammatory remarks and stood by others.

Carl has promoted a conspiracy theory that posits nonwhite immigrants will replace white people, and he has made disparaging comments about transgender, Jewish and Black people, including Missoula Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr, the first openly transgender woman elected to the Montana Legislature.

Carl was nominated to be assistant secretary of state for international organizations, which oversees the country’s policies at the United Nations and manages over 100 diplomats worldwide. His nomination was introduced to the committee in February by Montana Sen. Steve Daines.

Daines, also a Gallatin Valley resident, gave Carl a warm introduction, saying that he has gotten to know the nominee and his family well over the past few years.

Carl previously explained that he moved from California to Montana because the former was not the "social and political environment" he desired for his kids' upbringing. Until recently, Carl also served on Montana’s 19-member nonpartisan Humanities Board after he was named to the position by Gov. Greg Gianforte.

Carl told the Montana State News Bureau in an email that "the Democrats and media have consistently mischaracterized my views, which couldn't be more clear."

"Anyone interested in my actual views, as opposed to the absurd parody of those views trumpeted by the Democrats and much of the media using one-sided and completely out of context quotes, should simply pick up a copy of The Unprotected Class and read it," he added.