Candice Keller, a Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives, made controversial comments on Sunday following a pair of mass shootings, including one near her home district.
Keller's comments were published on Facebook on Sunday and have since been deleted, but not before a number of people made screen grabs of the comments and shared them on social media.
This is what Candice Keller, the Republican State Rep for Ohio District 53 and candidate for Ohio Senate District 4, has to say about the mass shootings in Dayton and El Paso. Please feel free to contact her to tell her your opinion at 614-644-5094 @GovMikeDeWine @brianrhester pic.twitter.com/fccsdCJVqB
— Jonathan Tyree (@JonnyTyree) August 4, 2019
She wrote, "The breakdown of the traditional American family (thank you, transgender, homosexual marriage, and drag queen advocates); fatherlessness, a subject no one discusses or believes is relevant; the ignoring of violent video games; the relaxing of laws against criminals (open borders); the acceptance of recreational marijuana; failed school policies (hello, parents who defend misbehaving students): disrespect to law enforcement (thank you, Obama)."
The comments drew ire from her own party, including the head of the Ohio GOP, Jane Timken. She released a statement to WBNS in Columbus. Timken called on Keller to step down.
"While our nation was in utter shock over the acts of violence in El Paso and Dayton, Republican State Representative Candice Keller took to social media to state why she thought these acts were happening. Candice Keller’s Facebook post was shocking and utterly unjustifiable. Our nation is reeling from these senseless acts of violence and public servants should be working to bring our communities together, not promoting divisiveness. I am calling on Candice Keller to resign," she said in the statement to WBNS .
Keller is in her second term in the Ohio House of Representatives. Keller lives in Middletown, Ohio, which is about 20 miles from where nine were killed by a gunman in Dayton, Ohio early Sunday morning.
