In an interview with local PBS station, Democrat pundit/former state legislator/university regent Chris Herstam says Arizona state legislators and the governor should be shot if they do not allow counties to run elections by mail later this year.
He said “if they don't change the state statute to allow for an all-mail election system for the primary and general election this year, they should be shot, because that's the only common sense thing to do.”
State Rep. Daniel Hernandez, a Democrat from Tucson and survivor of the attempted assassination of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, condemned the comments as a call to violence.
House Speaker Pro Tempore T.J. Shope, R-Coolidge, described it as hate talk that no one in the Legislature deserved, regardless of their political views.
Arizona Mirror, a nonprofit news website which publishes regular columns by Herstam, called his comments "out of line and unacceptable" and announced Friday it would no longer publish his commentary.
Steve Scalise tweeted in response to the video of Herstam, writing “Hard to believe someone would call for violence against officials they disagree with during this crisis. But that's what this columnist did—saying the AZ Gov & Legislators “should be shot” if he doesn’t get his way. This is dangerous & disgraceful. There must be accountability.
Herstam eventually apologized saying “I made hyperbolic and inappropriate statements that have no place in political discourse. I apologize for making them.”