Rep. Elise Stefanik claimed she returned to her car after going grocery shopping with her husband to find a “vile” note left for her.
Stefanik, one of the youngest women to ever be elected to Congress, shared on Saturday that after her shopping trip, she came back to her car to find a note that said, “Rot in Hell FASCIST PIG.”
“It is truly sad that the radical Far-Left cannot see beyond their vicious hate,” the New York Republican tweeted along with a photo of the note. “My husband and I went grocery shopping this morning before district events and enjoyed chatting with constituents throughout the store. This vile anonymous note was left on our car.”
It is truly sad that the radical Far-Left cannot see beyond their vicious hate.
My husband and I went grocery shopping this morning before district events and enjoyed chatting with constituents throughout the store.
This vile anonymous note was left on our car. pic.twitter.com/4K5OBN8qVj
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) March 7, 2020
Stefanik was first elected in 2015 and is up for reelection this year for New York’s 21st District. She called on her Democratic opponent, Tedra Cobb, to denounce the note in a follow-up tweet.
“This hateful rhetoric should be publicly condemned by my opponent immediately,” she said while noting she will pray for whoever wrote it.
As an elected official, I understand that respectful & passionate policy disagreements are foundational to our democracy. But this note is just sad hatred. We are praying for the author?
This hateful rhetoric should be publicly condemned by my opponent immediately.
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) March 7, 2020
Cobb, in turn, said this “this type of discourse is damaging and wrong” but also implied Stefanik has also engaged in harmful rhetoric.
“@EliseStefanik you’re right, that type of discourse is damaging and wrong,” she tweeted in response. “I think it’s time you joined me in pledging not to name call in this campaign. I’d love to work with you to set a better example for #NY21.”
.@EliseStefanik you’re right, that type of discourse is damaging and wrong.
I think it’s time you joined me in pledging not to name call in this campaign. I’d love to work with you to set a better example for #NY21. https://t.co/Gl0rTr3SMW
— Tedra Cobb for Congress (@TedraCobb) March 7, 2020
Stefanik said Cobb’s response was not a condemnation, but instead the conflation of equating policy differences to a “vile, sick attack.”
This is not a condemnation.
Here is my opponent equating “Taxin” with “ROT IN HELL FASCIST PIG”
One is a policy difference (you have voted numerous times to raise taxes) the other is a vicious, vile, sick attack.
They are not the same and voters know it. https://t.co/DGmmWHcwZW
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) March 7, 2020
Stefanik has been an outspoken supporter of President Trump and made headlines for her defense of the commander in chief during his impeachment trial.
“It is very clear that Adam Schiff has presented the weakest case in our nation’s history when it comes to impeachment,” Stefanik told the Daily Caller in January. “We heard part of the story from Adam Schiff, who took testimony out of context, and didn’t provide the fulsome facts. What you heard from the president’s defense team were those facts.”
