RICHMOND, Va. -- The Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus is calling for State Senator Amanda Chase (R - Chesterfield) to resign, saying she helped empower "domestic terrorists" who stormed the U.S. Capitol Wednesday.
“As we all watched in shock and disbelief at the insurrection in Washington, DC, Senator and gubernatorial candidate Amanda Chase was horrifyingly empowering a failed coup d’état. She galvanized domestic terrorists who violated the United States Capitol on Wednesday afternoon through riots, destruction, and desecration, joining them on their march to Capitol Hill," the caucus wrote in a statement.
Chase, who attended Wednesday's "Stop The Steal" rally, says she left during President Trump's speech for security reasons, and well before a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Chase has been outspoken in supporting false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
After the riots Wednesday, the Chesterfield lawmaker posted a Facebook video where she refused to denounce the riot and called it the beginning of “a revolution.”
"When you back people in Virginia and across the United States of America into a corner, you will end up with a revolution. And I believe that's what you're stating to see," she said.
Virginia Senate Democrats said Chase has not demonstrated good judgment or leadership for the Senate or the Commonwealth of Virginia.
“For someone who defends herself and the insurrectionists she calls ‘patriots’ with the Constitution, she either willfully or unwittingly doesn’t understand what her sworn oath to defend it actually means," the caucus continued. "She has unequivocally committed insurrection, and the Fourteenth Amendment to that same Constitution charges us with the responsibility of holding her accountable... It is in the best interest for the Senate of Virginia and her constituents to resign.”
Also on Friday morning, Chase announced her official political Facebook page had been suspended for 60 days.
“Facebook continues to restrict free speech. Because what I have to say does not fit their narrative my Senator Amanda Chase page has been silenced for 60 days. We no longer have free speech here in America.”
The suspension comes after she recently posted that Antifa members stormed the Capitol, a post that was flagged by Facebook for spreading false information.
In a statement Friday, Chase called the call for her resignation "laughable," saying the Virginia Democratic Party of Virginia, nor Facebook would deter her enthusiasm and passion to fight for Virginians.
"That the Virginia Senate Democratic Party has called for my resignation because of my support of President Donald J Trump and attending a peaceful protest is laughable given their silence during the months of rioting, looting, and destruction that occurred in Democratic cities across the Commonwealth which Democrats disingenuously called "peaceful protests" or "good trouble;" a series of blatant examples of abuse of power by many of their members and yet another example of their supporting a cancel culture that silences those with whom they disagree politically," Chase wrote.