New York’s Democratic party is considering options to expel one of its members, who is running as a candidate for office with the pledge to stop “greedy Jewish landlords”.

Thomas Lopez-Pierre is standing in the Democratic primary for the Upper West Side-Harlem-Washington Heights district, running against Mark Levine, the Jewish incumbent Democratic councilman.

Mr Lopez-Pierre, who describes himself as a black Latino man, has been stating in campaign videos that "Jewish landlords" are "at the forefront of ethnic cleansing/pushing Black/Hispanic tenants out of their apartments”.

In one speech videoed outside Mr Levine’s office, Mr Lopez-Pierre can be seen saying: "Together if we organize we can defeat Mark Levine, we can defeat Donald Trump, and we can defeat Jewish landlords who are pushing black and Latino people out of Harlem, Washington Heights, and the Upper West Side... I don't take one dollar in campaign contributions from these greedy Jewish landlords, and Mark Levine has taken over $100,000 in campaign contributions from these greedy Jewish landlords."

A GoFundMe campaign which was started to stop Mr Lopez-Pierre's “hate campaign” raised over $5,000, but was frozen after Mr Lopez-Pierre claimed that he had started the campaign himself, in an attempted “bait and switch” to raise money from people who oppose him.

David Greenfield, Democratic Jewish council member for the Boro Park district of Brooklyn, has called on his party to kick out Mr Lopez-Pierre, saying there was “no question” that his campaign was based on “good, old fashioned, virulent antisemitism.

“It is incumbent on our party leadership to oust him immediately and to make clear to all New Yorkers that Lopez-Pierre’s values are not Democratic values,” Mr Greenfield’s statement continued.

Manhattan Democratic Party chairman Keith Wright has confirmed that he is looking at whether it will be possible to eject Mr Lopez-Pierre from the party.

Meanwhile, the New York Observer claimed that Mr Lopez-Pierre has a history of domestic abuse. The newspaper reported he pled guilty to violating a family court restraining order obtained by his ex-wife, who alleged that he approached her and threatened her. The controversial candidate told the paper that he had pled guilty only to avoid disrupting his child visitation schedule.