Leading Republican Ohio Senate primary candidate Mike Gibbons made some awfully suspect comments about the intelligence of Asian people in a 2013 podcast episode he co-hosted, the New York Times reports. Gibbons, a hedge fund oligarch who polling shows is neck and neck for the hotly contested nomination with space laser guy Josh Mandel, was discussing business relations with China in the episode. “I’ve often thought that when I’ve run into Asians they’re all – you know, if you’ve ever read ‘The Bell Curve,’ it’s a book, a very controversial book… And it said that the smartest people in the world as far as measurable I.Q. were Ashkenazi Jews. And then right below them was basically everybody in China, India and, you know, throughout the Asian countries.”

Gibbons then described his experience in grad school in a class with “mostly Asians,” explaining “It was astounding to me how much they studied, how they were incredibly bright, but they memorized formula. And when we ran into a word problem – and you know, I think this is a function of the educational track they put them on – they got lost in the weeds.” When his co-host remarked on how Asians “lack critical thinking skills,” Gibbons added “They’re very good at copying.”

When asked why the fuck her candidate would say that, a Gibbons campaign spokeswoman said, “Mike was discussing the difference in educational structure and attainment that he experienced in both business and graduate school in relation to China,” which miiiiiight have worked a little better if he weren’t talking about a book once described by historian Steve Fraser as a “chilly synthesis of the work of disreputable race theorists and eccentric eugenicists” immediately beforehand.