Tomorrow, Ryan Kelley will appear in a federal district court for his second hearing since being charged with four misdemeanors following his participation in the violent insurrection on January 6th, 2021 that resulted in five deaths and 140 injured law enforcement officers.
Last week, following an FBI raid of his home, federal prosecutors filed four criminal charges against Kelley: knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building; disorderly and disruptive conduct; knowingly engaging in any act of physical violence against person or property in a restricted building or grounds; willfully injuring or committing depredation against property of the U.S. He faces up to four years in prison and $400,000 in fines if convicted.
These charges come after footage emerged of Ryan Kelley appearing to advance on the U.S. Capitol in which he is heard shouting “Come on, let’s go! This is it! This is– this is war, baby!” as he moves along with a crowd of rioters towards the building.
This raises the following questions for the entire gubernatorial field to answer immediately:
- Do Tudor Dixon, Kevin Rinke, Garrett Soldano, and Ralph Rebandt consider the events that took place on January 6th an insurrection?
- Should those that stormed the U.S. Capitol be held accountable for breaking the law?
- Do they believe Kelley was justified in engaging in the behavior that yielded these four charges?
- Do they defend the Disqualification Clause laid out in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that prohibits those that “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the United States from holding elected office?
- Will they call on Kelley to withdraw from the race should he be found guilty of any of these four charges?
