The Republican Party of Virginia is asking its supporters to sign a petition to boycott the restaurant that refused to serve White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders over the weekend.
“The liberal owner of the ‘Red Hen’ the restaurant in Lexington threw out Sarah Huckabee in the middle of dinner just because she works for President Trump!” the organization wrote on its website.
{mosads}The Virginia GOP’s call comes just a few days after the owner of the Red Hen, a restaurant in Lexington, Va., asked Sanders to leave the establishment.
“I explained that the restaurant has certain standards that I feel it has to uphold, such as honesty, and compassion, and cooperation,” Stephanie Wilkinson told The Washington Post. She added that Sanders quickly agreed to leave.
The incident resulted in several officials and pundits criticizing the restaurant for what it saw as unreasonable political targeting. Sanders tweeted that the owner’s “actions say far more about her than about me.”
“I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so,” Sanders said.
President Trump weighed in on Monday, tweeting that “the Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders.”
The incident came the same week multiple Trump administration officials faced protestors while dining out in Washington, D.C. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and White House senior adviser Stephen Miller were both confronted by protestors on separate occasions at restaurants in the District.