Niraj Antani says he got a call from a Trump campaign official asking him to take down the tweet. | Getty Pence apologizes to GOP lawmaker after alleged Trump camp seating snub Niraj Antani, an Ohio state lawmaker, says he was barred from seating reserved for elected officials over an anti-Trump tweet.

MORAINE, Ohio — Mike Pence personally called and apologized to Ohio state Rep. Niraj Antani on Wednesday, after the Republican legislator was denied entrance into a seating area reserved for elected officials at Pence’s town hall event.

Antani says he had been invited to the event but was denied seating in the V.I.P. area after the Trump campaign objected to an anti-Trump tweet.


Antani, 25, who was a delegate for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, had been canvassing his district last Thursday, knocking on doors as is his tradition and asking voters “Is there an issue that you are particularly concerned about?” Afterward, he tweeted: “FWIW, knocking doors in most affluent part of my GOP heavy district, and not one of them has been happy with Trump. All pro @JohnKasich,” the tweet read.

“I think it was pretty blasé,” he told POLITICO.

On Wednesday night, however, Antani says he got a call from a Trump campaign official asking him to take down the tweet.

Antani says he complied, but when he arrived at the rally and went to check in for the special section, he was blocked out. “'The campaign has told me not to give you this preferred seating,'” Antani says he recalls being told by a person working with the campaign.

Antani stayed for the event, sitting in the general admission section. Soon after the event, his phone rang. It was Pence.

“He said ‘I just got off stage and just learned about this and just wanted to apologize for the misunderstanding,’” Antani recalled. (The phone call was confirmed by a Pence aide.)

Antani told Pence that he is a fan and that he “is trying to be supportive,” he said after.

The episode is the latest for which Pence has found himself apologizing for the actions of Trump campaign staff or Trump volunteers. Pence expressed regret over the searching of a Washington Post reporter who was denied admittance to a Pence event in late July.

“I don’t care about the tweet, I don’t care abut the seating, this is more how they treat people who weren’t with them in the primary,” said Antani. “This is how they treat someone whose willing to come on board . I wonder how they treat people who are against them.”

Antani said he is still “probably” going to vote for Trump since he wants pro-life judges appointed to the Supreme Court. Before today he would have been willing to endorse Trump and do work on his behalf in Ohio, a critical swing state. “I’m probably not going to any more,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.