Idaho state senator ‘spews hateful six-word message’ at Native American Democratic candidate that left her shaken: ‘I was scared’

Just weeks before one of America’s most polarizing elections, a Republican senator has sparked massive outrage after allegedly hurling a stunning, hateful message at his Native American opponent during a recent bipartisan forum.

The event, held in Idaho, was later deemed by the now-disgraced senator as “a typical display of racial discrimination.” angrily yelling at his Democratic opponent to “go back where you came from,” echoing a public question about discrimination.

Senator Dan Foreman, 71, left the event early after the outburst and later denied making racist comments in a Facebook post that attacked the validity of the event and called it a “so-called political forum.”

Foreman’s opponent, Trish Carter-Goodheart, the Democratic candidate for the House District 6 seat and a member of the Nez Perce tribe, also said on Facebook after the event that the outburst left her shaken and that she “still remembers the hurtful events of was coming to terms with her life’. the last few days.’

The incident happened about an hour after the September 30 meeting, which was held by Democratic and Republican precinct committee members from the small northern Idaho town of Kendrick.

The provocative question related to a state bill on discrimination, to which Carter-Goodheart pushed back on previous comments suggesting discrimination is not a major problem in the ‘potato state’.

She said the state’s hate crime laws are weak and noted that the neo-Nazi group Aryan Nations has made northern Idaho its home base for years.

She also said she was the only candidate at the bipartisan event who was a person of color.

“I pointed out that just because someone hasn’t personally experienced discrimination doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen,” she said.

“I was making my statement, and then he shot out of his chair and said, ‘I’m so tired of your liberal bullshit!’ Why don’t you go back where you came from?’

Foreman later defended his alleged actions on social media, calling his opponents “far-left socialist Democrats.”

“Aided by an event moderator who allowed them to make blatant personal attacks on the Republican attendees, in direct violation of forum rules, they balanced their misleading claims of racism with their stereotypical support for killing unborn babies in the womb and mutilating our youth as part of their transgender movement,” the message reads.

The 71-year-old also claimed, “There is no systemic racism in America or Idaho. Idaho is a great state, the best in the Union!”

Carter-Goodheart, who is looking to dethrone the incumbent who earned the role in 2022, described her account of the incident: “It was like slow motion,” she said.

“I remember thinking, ‘Go back where you came from?’ That’s within a few miles of where this forum is taking place. We literally have plots of land that are rented out to family farms in the area.”

The Nez Perce tribe has lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest, including the area where Kendrick is located, for more than 11,500 years.

The northern edge of the reservation, while only a small portion of the tribe’s historic territory, is less than 10 miles from the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall where the forum was held.

Julia Parker and Rep. Lori McCann, two other candidates present, recalled the clash and said Foreman stood up and screamed after Carter-Goodheart’s response.

“I stood up and faced it [Foreman] and tried to defuse what was going on,” Parker recalled.

McCann added that Carter-Goodheart’s description of the incident matched her own memory.

The event lasted about 20 minutes after Foreman left. Carter-Goodheart said she looked at the only door, afraid he would come back.

The incident also prompted some difficult conversations for the mother of two, with her young daughters present.

“Having conversations about racism with an eight-year-old and a five-year-old is not something me and my husband Dane were prepared for,” she said on Facebook.

‘They’ve never seen a grown man so collapsed. They were afraid. I was scared,” she added.

More candidate forums are planned in the coming weeks, leaving the Senate hopeful to question the need for future public events.

Organizers of an upcoming League of Women Voters event sent Carter-Goodheart an email after the event informing her that police would be on site as a precaution, adding that the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office was offering guidance about security measures her campaign can pay for.

“We’ve been told it’s not a bad idea to have security,” she said.

“And we need to have honest discussions about race and discrimination and the disparities and disparities that exist not just in Idaho, but across the country.”

The confrontation comes just weeks before a highly polarizing election cycle in the US is set to end on Election Day, November 5.