Republican House District 10 candidate Thomas Donohue.

SALEM — Thomas Donohue, a Pacific City Republican seeking election as state representative for the Central Coast, is under heat for sharing a Facebook post comparing Democrats to Nazis.

Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis, the incumbent in that seat, is Jewish.

The post features a graphic showing images of the Nazi swastika and a blue “D” and a chart comparing Democrats to Nazis on a list of seven issues, including “socialism,” “no guns,” and “abortion.”

The post originated from the Facebook page of conservative blog, “Direct to the People.”

The Democratic Party of Oregon in a news release Thursday, April 26, called on the Oregon GOP to stop “a disturbing pattern of hateful and intolerant speech” by Republican candidates for the Oregon House of Representatives.

“The image posted by Mr. Donohue comparing Democrats to Nazis is simply disgusting and inappropriate,” said Jeanne Atkins, chair of the Democratic Party of Oregon.

Gomberg said Donohue’s post surprised him.

“I know Mr. Donohue and know him to be a person who cares about his community, and it didn’t look like the kind of observations that I would normally expect from him,” he said.

Gomberg, who was elected to the House in November 2012, said the post is not representative of his constituents — even Republicans — in House District 10.

“I certainly find the post troubling as a Democrat and as a Jew,” he said.

Gomberg’s family immigrated to the United States before World War II — when the Nazis undertook a systematic holocaust of Jews in Europe.

“But I hope anybody reading that (post) would share my concern,” he said.

Donohue said the post was a mistake and out of character for him. He said he plans to call Gomberg to apologize.

“I had no idea he was Jewish,” Donohue said. “National socialists (the Nazi Party) did not like Jewish people. I don’t know that the Democratic Party is so much that way, but I think they don’t like white people.”

Donohue’s post and comments from Republican candidates Joshua Powell seeking election to Eugene-area House District 11 and George “Sonny” Yellott in Portland-area House District 48 illustrate a trend of hate speech in the party, Atkins argued.

In 2016, Yellott posted on his Facebook page a lynching meme of President Barack Obama, according to OregonLive.

Earlier this month, The Register Guard reported that Powell has been making vitriolic and expletive-filled comments against Jews and Muslims on social media.

In February, Deschutes County Republicans hosted John Guandolo, a former FBI agent labeled an anti-Muslim extremist by Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups.

The following month, Republicans hired self-described right-wing “provocateur” Roger Stone as their keynote speaker March 2-3 at the Dorchester Conference in Salem, the state’s largest annual gathering of conservatives. During his speech, he disparaged feminists, claimed the rights of American citizens should trump those of “human beings” and criticized the study of the humanities and social justice at postsecondary institutions.

“It is indefensible that leaders in the Republican party continue to keep quiet in the face of what clearly identifiable hate speech,” she said. “Far from giving Oregon voters an alternative to the far-right rhetoric of the Trump administration, the Oregon GOP is doubling down. Republicans, especially those who want to lead their party as their gubernatorial nominee, need to step up and weigh in. Otherwise, their silence makes them complicit.”

Donohue dismissed Atkins’ comments as typical Democratic rhetoric.

“The Democratic Party has been saying that about us for years, that we’re all Islamophobes and homophobes,” he said. “I think that is rhetoric. I don’t think that this is the case.”