US Rep. Nancy Mace said one of her supporters was assaulted Monday by a volunteer for Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, one of her opponents in South Carolina’s Republican primary, as they protested outside an Evette event Monday.
The Mace supporter had been speaking through a megaphone when Blake Kirsch ripped the megaphone from his hands and gave it to an officer on scene, according to a report from the Greer Police Department obtained by CNN.
The report states the officer told Kirsch to return the megaphone and the other man demanded Kirsch be charged for touching him. In video circulated by the Mace campaign, a man can be seen grabbing the megaphone from the protester’s hands.
Kirsch was arrested and charged with assault and battery in the 3rd degree, according to the Greenville County 13th Judicial Circuit Public Index. No attorney is listed at this time.
“This behavior is disgusting and has no place in South Carolina politics,” Mace said in a statement. “Evette must immediately and unequivocally denounce the violence, fire the staffer, and apologize to the victim. South Carolina voters deserve an explanation for why a member of her campaign would resort to violence the night before an election.”
Mace also held a press conference Tuesday morning where she called Evette a “disgrace” and called for the Trump-endorsed candidate to drop out of the race.
“Our team is deeply disappointed that this occurred. We support free speech and do not in any way condone violence. He is not, and has never been, employed by the Evette campaign and he is no longer a member of our finance committee,” Megan Finnern, Evette’s campaign manager, said in a statement to CNN. Finnern added that Kirsch voluntarily resigned from his position as an unpaid member of the finance committee.
CNN’s Maureen Chowdhury contributed to this report.
