BOONE COUNTY, Ky. — A Boone County commissioner is under fire for controversial comments he made on Facebook following the murder of political activist Charlie Kirk.
County Commissioner Chet Hand, who is running for Judge Executive in November, made a post on Facebook just hours after Kirk was shot.
In the post, he expressed his prayers for the Kirk family.
Hand then went on to say, in part, "Democrats are the party of political violence, intolerance, hate, anger, and evil. They are the party of insanity, demonic possession and radical extremism. They represent Satan's spawn on earth, and their rhetoric over the years has stoked a proliferation of incidents like this."
You can see the full post below:
During a meeting at Boone County Fiscal Court on Tuesday evening, dozens of residents packed into the room. Many were there to voice their displeasure over Hand's comments.
"I thought it was not real at first," said Boone County resident Carolyn Wolfe.
Hear why Hand said he won't apologize in the video below:
Residents who spoke during Tuesday's meeting called for Hand to make a public apology.
"So that means you are also including the beliefs we instill in our child," said Boone County resident Shawn Moll. "Do you think she's evil? Do you think she's demonically possessed? The spawn of Satan?"
Residents like Amber Hoffman told us Hand's comments were an example of the hateful rhetoric that is tearing communities apart.
“I have a certain level of respect for my community members and I believe that, at the very minimum, our elected officials should have that same respect for their private citizens," Hoffman said.
We met up with Hand after the meeting to ask him about his post.
"We have broad First Amendment rights to say quite a bit, whatever we feel is necessary to get our campaign over the finish line," Hand said.
According to data from the Kentucky State Board of Elections, as of August, there are more than 102,000 registered voters in Boone County. Roughly 28% of them are Democrats.
We asked Hand if he believed all Democrats were "Satan's spawn of earth".
"No, I was very clear in the choice of words there," Hand said. "I don't believe that Democrats are 100% evil and that's not what I said. I said the party represents the party of evil."
On top of asking for an apology, some residents also asked for Hand to step down from his position.
Hand told us he doesn't plan to do either.
"Because what I said was truth and I believe objective truth exists and I believe that objective good and objective evil exists," Hand said.
Hand said he is open to meeting with residents to have an open conversation about their thoughts and beliefs.
"We may not agree and we may agree to disagree, but I'll at least hear them out," Hand said.
Some Boone County residents told us they showed up because they wanted to make people aware of his post. They said they want people to be knowledgeable about who they are voting for in this upcoming election.
"This rhetoric is not okay," Moll said.
