A local Republican leader in California is facing resignation calls after he wrote a series of Facebook posts that suggested a war had begun and that people should arm themselves.
Phil Reynolds, who is an elected member of the Santa Clara County Republican Party’s Central Committee, wrote the post on Wednesday ahead of Congress’s vote to certify President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election.
“The war has begun! Citizens take arms! FREEDOM SHALL PREVAIL!!! WE MUST DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION TO THE DEATH!” Reynolds wrote, according to the San Jose Spotlight.
Democratic state Assemblyman Evan Low of Santa Clara County publicly called for Reynolds’s resignation after a riot escalated on Capitol Hill later in the day. The riot left offices and rooms in the Capitol damaged, and five people, including one Capitol Police officer, died in the chaos.
“He is an elected representative, and clearly, the language that he used was inciting violence,” Low told the San Francisco Chronicle. “This person should be shamed, disgraced, and removed from office.”
Santa Clara County Supervisor Susan Ellenberg also called for Reynolds’s resignation, adding that she believes he needs to be held accountable for his words.
“I fervently denounce this sentiment & am dismayed to see it expressed by an elected official in our county, our district,” Ellenberg tweeted. “There’s no place for this clarion call in our (community) or county.”
Reynolds, 61, defended his post, saying he did not incite violence and that his comments at the time were emotionally charged.
“I observed what I felt was an attempt to overthrow our government,” Reynolds said. “I didn’t know who these people were, and I got very emotional about it.”
