House GOP leaders condemn candidate who said black people should be ‘proud’ of Confederate statues

House Republican leaders have condemned a candidate for a House seat who made racist and classist comments in Facebook videos first reported by Politico.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, who will face local physician John Cowan in an Aug. 11 runoff in Georgia’s heavily Republican 14th district, said in one of several direct-to-camera videos that if she were black, Confederate monuments would make her “proud,” “because I’d say, ‘Look how far I have come in this country.’”

Senior House leadership blasted Greene’s comments and threw their support to Cowan, who she led by about 20 percentage points in the initial primary vote.

“These comments are appalling, and Leader McCarthy has no tolerance for them,” Drew Florio, a spokesman for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), told the publication.

“The comments made by Ms. Greene are disgusting and don’t reflect the values of equality and decency that make our country great,” House Minority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said in a statement. “I will be supporting Dr. Cowan.”

A spokesman for GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said “obviously, Rep. Cheney opposes these offensive and bigoted comments.”

In another Facebook video, Greene says former President Barack Obama only won black voters due to “the color of his skin,” and suggested this was why Obama considers himself black despite also being “half-white” and “American.”

In another video she says unemployment is the result of “bad choices” and “being lazy,” adding “I know a ton of white people that are as lazy and sorry and probably worse than black people. And that has everything to do with their bad choices and their personal responsibility. That is not a skin-color issue.”

Greene has also endorsed the QAnon conspiracy theory in other videos, saying, “I’m very excited about that now there’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take this global cabal of Satan worshipping pedophiles out.”

Cowan also took aim at Greene over the comments.

“These comments do not reflect the views of the people of the 14th District,” he said in an interview. “I think she would embarrass our state, and I’m going to do everything I can to keep her from representing northwest Georgia in Congress.”