A South Dakota Democratic congressional candidate is withdrawing his candidacy after disturbing social media posts surfaced online.
Air Force veteran and lawyer Ryan Ryder announced last week that he was running for South Dakota’s lone congressional district.
However, news websites later published screenshots of Ryder’s tweets, including one where he “jokingly” threatened to kill Republican Representative Dusty Johnson’s family.
Another tweet said it was “too bad the Trump rioters that you continue to support didn’t get you” during the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill. In a third post, Ryder joked about performing sexual acts to a picture of South Dakota’s female Republican Governor Kristi Noem.
“A lot of these were basically just biting sarcasm, just flippant and rude. A lot of these had important context on them,” Ryder told reporters, dismissing the disturbing tweets as humor.
“Almost all these were either biting sarcasm seeking a response from our elected officials, trying to get them to take an issue more seriously,” he added.
In light of Ryder’s controversy, the South Dakota Democratic Party (SDDP) asked the veteran to drop out of the race.
“The South Dakota Democratic Party has determined it is not appropriate for Mr. Ryder to continue in this race and requested that he end his candidacy, which he has agreed to,” the party’s Executive Director Berk Ehrmantraut said in a statement.
SDDP chairman Randy Seiler also issued his own statement that read, “These statements from Mr. Ryder do not live up to the values of the South Dakota Democratic Party, and we do not support this type of language.”
Meanwhile, the South Dakota Republican Party condemned Ryder’s tweets, criticizing the candidate for his strange behavior on the internet.
“Let me fix this tweet. It should read ‘Democrats endorse vile creep who talks about masturbating to photos of our Governor, killing the family of a Congressman, comparing a person’s wife to a dog and wishing death upon Republican voters’. There that’s much more correct,” tweeted the South Dakota GOP.
After ending his candidacy, Ryder apologized, saying, “I apologize specifically to the state party and anyone else for whom these tweets reflected badly.”
Ryder’s personal Twitter account has already been deactivated since his withdrawal. His campaign website could no longer be accessed as well, according to reporters.
