The Democratic candidate for Illinois state senate in the 8th district was suspended after leading a campaign event earlier this week in which she criticized the death of a woman who was driving a car which collided with a teenager in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Amanda Lorenz’s speech at the event went viral on Tuesday. Though it was intended to bring attention to the tragic death of Daniele Cipriano, the campaign event also apparently linked the death to her own experience with the law:
“The impact of that,” Lorenz said, “is I never drive.” — Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) October 16, 2018
Even by the standards of a tight-knit campaign, Lorenz’s diatribe was quite controversial. The district voters decided to remove her as their nominee on Wednesday.
The Democratic candidate also said the other victims involved in the crash that killed Cipriano, mother Chrissy Weber and her friend Jessica DeBoer, should have taken their own lives:
“The best thing they could have done,” Lorenz said, “if it had been in their best interest to kill themselves, I hope they did.”
Lorenz, an activist who has been running for office for over a decade, did not offer an apology or even clarify her comments later in the day, as word was still coming out about her remarks that prompted such a strong reaction. She did not offer a statement to The Washington Post, NBC or CBS.
In a statement given to NBC, she said, “I regret my remarks and all the discomfort they created.”
Her campaign manager, Tristan Meheux, told NBC that she did not regret her comments. “I think Amanda knows exactly what she said, and I think she’s going to stick to her beliefs in this election,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that this situation has overshadowed the details of what she was referring to, but that’s the way things are.”
Watch more about Lorenz’s comments and the politics behind them, below: