Lamar County Democratic Party Chairman Gary O’Connor who called Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) an “oreo” resigned from his position on Tuesday in response to mounting pressure from state officials on both sides of the aisle.
In a since-deleted Facebook post O’Connor criticized Scott’s rebuttal to President Biden’s joint address to Congress last week and used the racial slur.
“I had hoped that Scott might show some common sense, but it seems clear he is little more than an Oreo with no real principles,” the Facebook post read.
“I am deeply and sincerely sorry for my inappropriate and hurtful use of racist term I used to describe Sen. Tim Scott on my personal Facebook page. It was insensitive, and I have embarrassed myself and my party by its use,” O’Connor told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday morning.
“As a result, I feel compelled to offer my resignation as chair of the Lamar County Democratic Party for consideration by the County Executive Committee,” he stated.
O’Connor resigned after many called for his resignation. Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) said:
Gary O’Connor’s comment against Senator Tim Scott is abhorrent, insulting, and unforgivable. Both he and the entire Lamar County Democratic Party should be ashamed of this racist behavior. This kind of behavior is not tolerable in Texas, the United States, or any political party.
Gov. Greg Abbott said Saturday, “This is disgusting, hateful, and completely unacceptable. O’Connor must apologize to @SenatorTimScott & step down immediately.”
“Twitter banned the phrase from appearing in its trending section, but the tweets containing the offensive term were not removed and remain live on the platform,” the Washington Examiner reported.
According to Breitbart, Scott’s rebuttal speech was widely applauded for “pointing towards slavery as not the end of America’s story. “Original sin is never the end of the story. Not in our souls, and not for our nation. The real story is always redemption,” he said,” Scott said.
However the Lamar County Democratic Party rejected Scott’s resignation and issued its own statement late Tuesday.
“Our local Democrats have taken the last few days to reflect upon this incident,” the organization said, MyParisTexas.com reported.
“After much discussion — especially among our local [b]lack Democrats — we chose not to accept Mr. O’Connor’s resignation.”
“Lamar County Democrats recommit ourselves to conduct our private conversations and our public social media discussions with anti-racist, pro-reconciling attitudes and language. We strongly condemn bigotry of any kind and will continue our historic efforts to work for justice and equality for all our fellow citizens,” according to their statement.