A second Republican candidate for public office has reacted to Lauren Witzke’s statements on the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Earlier today Gregory Wilps, State Representative candidate for Newark’s 24th district announced that he is distancing himself from the Lauren Witzke campaign after her comments on WDEL’s Rick Jensen show. The comments can be found here.
“This afternoon, Todd Ruckle, candidate for the District 9 State Senate seat, issued a letter condemning Witzke’s comments.
My wife and I raised our four beautiful children to be personable, respectful, and genuine. This is why I must speak out, regardless of whether or not my statement causes me to lose support.
It is time for me to continue to fulfill my promise to stand up and protect our communities, one neighbor at a time.
I am deeply saddened and extremely disappointed in the actions of the current DEGOP candidate, Lauren Witzke, and her team. The type of hate-filled rhetoric coming from her campaign does not represent myself or my District 9 neighbors as Delawareans, let alone as Delaware Republicans. I fully CONDEMN these disgusting comments.
I stand in support with Republican candidates who understand what it means to serve Delawareans with honor and integrity, candidates like Senator Anthony Delcollo, State Rep. Mike Ramone, and State Rep. Mike Smith. Once elected, I look forward to serving with these elected representatives in the next legislative session.
I can no longer consciously stay silent. Too many neighbors have reached out to me and have suddenly perceived the Delaware Republican Party leadership as “weak” and now have a terribly negative view of Republican candidates like myself. This is unacceptable. The Delaware Republican Party must take action and show the people of Delaware who we are.
I call on common sense Delaware Republicans and our candidates across this great state to come together and unite behind our true values, what makes us Delaware Republicans. We must all denounce hate and bigotry.
We are the party of freedom, the party of character, life, individual liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We all must remember that we need a left foot and a right foot to stand. We need a left leg and a right leg working in harmony to run. And we must run into the future working together to keep the American dream alive. If not, we will surely and inevitably fall.
Somehow, we all need to get back to who we are. Respect, integrity, empathy, and honor must be restored in order for all of us to move forward together. We can promote our conservative values without denigrating a human life.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an American hero. She was a champion for women’s rights and led the charge for equal opportunity for everyone. If it weren’t for Ginsburg’s strong convictions, female candidates like Miss Witzke or our great, honorable candidates like Donyale Hall, Dr. Julia Pillsbury, and Julianne Murray would have never been able to run for office.
Even though we as Republicans may passionately disagree with Justice Ginsburg on a few issues, we have agreed on so many more. Even the late Justice Antonin Scalia and his family used to go on vacation with Ginsburg and her family. They attended the opera, celebrated New Years, and attended countless other outings.
Two people with completely opposite political views spent so much time together, as friends. This give and take, compromising, friendship, and sincerity is what Dover should look like. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a legend of her time and we must all grieve for America’s loss of the greatest legal trailblazer of the last 50 years.”
It’s not clear if Ruckle was aware of Witzke’s appearance on the Rick Jensen show.
