Arizona GOP calls for lawmaker to resign after racially charged speech

PHOENIX — The Arizona GOP called for David Stringer’s resignation from the state House of Representatives a day after video of the Prescott Republican saying “there aren’t enough white kids to go around” set off a firestorm.

On Thursday, the Arizona Republican Party released a pointed statement from chairman Jonathan Lines: “In light of today’s reports detailing Representative David Stringer’s comments, I am calling on him to resign immediately. These words have no place in our party, or in our state.”

The call came not long after Stringer defended himself in a Facebook post.

“My political opponents have taken 51 seconds out of a 16-minute speech to try to distort my message and mislead voters,” Stringer wrote. “We recognize the tactic. I’m not interested in taking the fake news bait.”

It hasn’t been just opponents taking offense to Stringer’s comments. Arizona’s Republican governor agreed with the state GOP’s call for Stringer’s ouster.

In a tweet, Doug Ducey’s spokesman, Daniel Scarpinato, said the governor supports Lines’ statement.

Gov. @DougDucey agrees with Chairman @JWLines and supports this call from @AZGOP. https://t.co/XNr74OMX9w

— Daniel Scarpinato (@Scarpinato) June 14, 2018

House Speaker J.D. Mesnard said in a statement that he disagreed with Stringer’s comment and that he would be dissolving the criminal justice reform committee that he had chaired.

“I completely disagree that immigration poses a threat to the United States,” part of the statement read.

“We are a nation of immigrants – we have been since before our founding and will continue to be as long as our country remains a beacon of freedom and opportunity around the world. While some find challenge in diversity, I believe that any challenge makes us better for it.”

Mark Brnovich, Arizona’s Republican attorney general, told KTAR News 92.3 FM that anybody who speaks that way “does not understand what the American dream is about.”

“That comment is completely unacceptable,” Brnovich said. “It’s inappropriate, and frankly it’s un-American.”

Stringer, who is seeking re-election and has two opponents in the Republican primary, was defiant in his Facebook post.

“I am not afraid of conservative bigwigs and I’m not afraid of liberal bullies either,” he wrote. “Anyone who doubts this is welcome to come hear me speak and judge for yourself if I am a truth teller.”

He made the controversial comments Monday at the Yavapai County Republican Men’s Forum.

His speech was livestreamed on Facebook and saved to his campaign page. It was later removed.

But a clip widely circulated on social media by David Schapira, a Democratic candidate for superintendent of public instruction, showed Stringer talking about how immigration is changing the demographic makeup of the country.

An AZ legislator made these overtly racist comments about our students. It's time to remove xenophobic radicals from elected office this November! We deserve leaders who understand we're a nation of immigrants who bring a diversity of experiences & ideas. https://t.co/P5I9QpUHDI pic.twitter.com/NSrJS2WZA3

— David Schapira (@dschapira) June 13, 2018

“Sixty percent of public school children in the state of Arizona today are minorities. That complicates racial integration because there aren’t enough white kids to go around,” Stringer said in part of the video.

The clip also shows Stringer saying “immigration is politically destabilizing” and “immigration today represents an existential threat to the United States.”

“If we don’t do something about immigration very, very soon, the demographics of our country will be irrevocably changed and we will be a very different country and we will not be the country you were born into,” he said.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Ali Vetnar contributed to this report.

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