PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A Democratic candidate for South Dakota’s congressional seat says he is withdrawing his candidacy after coming under scrutiny for tweets he made from his personal account before he considered running for public office.
Ryan Ryder is an Air Force veteran and lawyer from Black Hawk.
He was running for the seat held by Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson.
One of Ryder’s tweets suggested that he should make an animated video of Johnson’s family getting killed. Ryder told The Associated Press the tweets “were a poor attempt at sarcasm.”
He made one in response to Johnson’s vote against censuring Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar for a violent cartoon video that depicted killing a character that resembled New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
