Guests at Johnson County GOP event punch, kick effigy of President Joe Biden
Attendees at a Johnson County Republican Party event Friday physically attacked an effigy of President Joe Biden, according to photos and video posted to social media, prompting the state party’s former chair to call for the resignation of its current leaders.
Video posted to the right-wing video sharing site Rumble shows several people at Friday’s “Grand Ol’ Party” event punching, kicking and using a bat against a mannequin wearing a Biden mask.
The effigy was part of a county party fundraiser at the Overland Park Convention Center that featured the musician Ted Nugent and former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline.
“This booth was hosted by a Karate school to promote their self defense class,” Maria Holiday, the chairwoman of the Johnson County Republican Party, said in an email.
The images prompted swift condemnation from Republicans and Democrats in Kansas who denounced it as an example of political violence.
Former Kansas GOP chairman Mike Kuckelman called on Holiday as well as Kansas Republican Party Chairman Mike Brown and Johnson County Sheriff Calvin Hayden, who he said attended the event, to resign.
“I’ve been a Republican my entire life and I am disturbed that anyone would think this was acceptable conduct,” Kuckelman told The Star. “As a Republican we were all very upset, disappointed, angry, appalled when they did that to President Trump, and we can’t have a double standard.”
Hayden did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the event. Holiday said Kuckelman’s Facebook post on the event was “full of inaccuracies” but did not provide details.
In an email Brown said he was not at the event.
Other Republicans criticized the conduct while stopping short of calling for resignations.
House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said he couldn’t speak to the specifics of the event but, as a rule, condemns political violence.
“Whether it’s Kathy Griffin infamously posing for a photo holding what appears to be President Trump’s severed head or pounding on a mannequin of President Biden, what may seem like a joke for many will be seen by some as an expansion of acceptable behavior with potentially tragic consequences,” Hawkins said in a statement.
Prasanth Reddy, a Johnson County research oncologist running for Johnson County’s congressional seat, said on a post to X that “ridiculous, thoughtless actions like this one distract from those trying to deliver solutions.”
Across the political aisle Kansas Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat, called on Republicans in the Legislature to publicly condemn the behavior.
“Political violence of any kind is vile and wrong, and we cannot afford to brush it under the rug when others encourage it,” Sykes said in a statement. “The focus now has to be on Republican leadership of the Kansas Senate and House.”
“If my colleagues in the Legislature agree that this conduct is shameful and dangerous, they cannot turn a blind eye to this behavior,” she said. “Their silence is consent.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2024 at 6:06 PM.
