The National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of House Republicans, announced on Friday that it was adding two frontline congressional candidates with questionable records on antisemitism to its prestigious Young Guns program.

The Young Guns program, which aims to boost challengers in key swing districts, provides extra assistance and guidance to designated candidates and is a marker of which candidates and races the NRCC sees as its top priorities.

The NRCC on Friday said it was adding Orlando Sonza, a veteran challenging Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) in Ohio’s 1st District, to the Young Guns and Neil Parrott, who’s running in Maryland’s open 6th Congressional District against former Biden official April Delaney.

Sonza accepted an endorsement from a prolific antisemite and Holocaust denier and promoted it on his website and social media.

Sonza’s campaign said it was not aware of the man’s beliefs and activities, and rejected the endorsement when contacted by Jewish Insider, adding that the man had endorsed Sonza in his capacity as a Republican Party precinct executive.

In the statehouse, Parrott was one of just four lawmakers who voted against a bill prohibiting individuals from placing swastikas and hate symbols on properties without the owner’s approval and against a state budget bill that included an amendment condemning antisemitism and academic boycotts of Israel.

Parrott said that the hate symbols legislation was potentially too broad and vague, and said he supported the budget bill amendment but opposed the overall spending levels in the bill.

NRCC spokesperson Jack Pandol declined to comment further on the candidates’ backgrounds, referring JI to his public statement praising the group of six candidates added to the program on Friday.

“This class of Young Gun candidates’ hard work gives us the ability to go on offense,” Pandol said. “Meanwhile extreme Democrats promise to be a rubber stamp for Kamala Harris’ far-left liberal agenda of higher taxes, open borders and crime-infested neighborhoods.”

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee condemned the NRCC endorsements.

“By openly embracing extreme candidates who pal around with Holocaust deniers and have actively voted against measures to fight antisemitism, House Republicans have fanned the flames of hate – threatening our friends, family, and neighbors – all while exploiting the Jewish community for political gain,” DCCC spokesperson Courtney Rice said in a statement. “Shame on them.”