The Republican Party of Delaware stands squarely as the party of Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan for the principles of:

• Equality and respect for all.

• Personal freedom and liberty

• Smaller government.

Through a series of unfortunate events, we have on the ballot a candidate for Congress whose actions and views do not in any way represent the principles of our party.

Under our party rules, a candidate can only be formally endorsed in a primary, if he or she has received 60 percent of the vote of the delegates to our spring convention. No candidate for Congress was put forth at that convention.

Shortly after the convention, Lee Murphy, who had previously agreed to run as our candidate for a state representative seat, came to me and offered to run for Congress. I accepted his candidacy willingly.

Lee met with the various party leaders and workers statewide. They also welcomed and encouraged his candidacy. Under the rules, we could not at that time make a formal endorsement but Lee was our man.

Scott Walker, who had run as a Democrat in the 2016 congressional primary, came to a Republicans candidate school that we ran in the spring.

I personally knew of his background and heard some of the views that he had publicly expressed through social media. I told him he was not welcome and could not participate. Nothing was heard from him again until shortly before the filing deadline, when he filed to run for Congress.

Frankly, there is no one that I or other party leaders have talked to who can explain how he actually won the Sept. 6 primary.

Since that time, Walker has expressed views on social media that do not in any way represent our party. We vigorously condemn those views and his actions.

I feel that it is necessary for all voters to understand the firmness with which all party leaders and I feel about this action and his presence on the ballot.

At the executive committee meeting of party officials on Sept. 20, I was given unanimously the authority to express our united view that despite his presence on the ballot, no Republican organization will give any support to his candidacy. The executive committee formally censured his candidacy.

We apologize to the voters of Delaware and our party faithful that these series of unfortunate events have led to this situation.

Mike Harrington Sr.

State chairman

Republican Party of Delaware

EDITOR’S NOTE: A story regarding the censure of Scott Walker by the Delaware Republican party was published in Saturday’s edition of the Delaware State News. It can be found at DelawareStateNews.net.