HOLLAND, Mich. — Former congressional candidate Rob Davidson has taken down a tweet in which he referred to members of a conservative youth organization as “Hitler youth.”
Davidson’s tweet on Tuesday night was a reply to President Donald Trump’s tweet following his speech at Turning Point USA in Washington, D.C.
On Sunday, Reverend Bryan Berghoef, a Democrat, announced he is challenging Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland, for Michigan’s 2nd Congressional District.
Berghoef’s campaign announcement included an endorsement from Davidson, who unsuccessfully challenged Huizenga in 2018.
A representative with Berghoef’s campaign issued the following statement to FOX 17:
“Rob is a volunteer with the campaign. He should not have tweeted what he did. We are glad he took it down.”
In a statement to FOX 17, Davidson said he is not a spokesman to Berghoef and has no official role in his campaign.
In the president’s speech, he referred to Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, as a “crazed lunatic.”
Earlier this month, Congress formally condemned the president’s attacks on four congresswomen of color, including Tlaib. In a tweet, Huizenga said he disagreed with a series of tweets by the president but chose not to vote to condemn him.
Davidson issued the following statement to FOX 17:
“Just a knee jerk reaction to a president speaking to a group of young people about his constant droning about the ‘witch hunt’ and telling them Article 2 says he can do anything he wants. Seemed to be indoctrinating these young people. Poor choice of words. I regret the comment and I’ll take it down now.”
Though Davidson and Berghoef’s representative deny the former candidate has a formal role in the campaign, a member of Huizenga’s campaign staff is critical of the relationship.
“I cannot believe a pastor from West Michigan has made this ‘volunteer’ a centerpiece of his campaign,” Jim Barry, the campaign chair for Huizenga for Congress said in a statement to FOX 17.
Berghoef has also been vocal in his criticisms of Trump in the past.