A New York state senator has come under fire for a distasteful tweet he sent to a female staffer of a Republican senator.

Senator Kevin Parker, a Democrat representing Brooklyn neighbourhoods, posted a tweet on Tuesday telling Candice Giove, deputy communications director for New York state Senate’s Republican majority, to “kill yourself!”

The tweet, now deleted, was in response to Ms Giove accusing Mr Parker for misusing a Senate-issue parking placard. Ms Giove fired back at the state senator.

“Did a Senator just write this to me?” the Republican aide tweeted.

Mr Parker apologised for the tweet. “I sincerely apologise,” Mr Parker wrote. “I used a poor choice of words. Suicide is a serious thing and and should not be made light of.”

But after a few hours, Mr Parker went back at it with Ms Giove. He tweeted that the GOP staffer was on the “wrong side of history for every important issue facing New York State!”

The controversial tweet prompted criticism from colleagues in his political party. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the incoming State Senate Majority Leader representing Yonkers, released a statement expressing disappointment in Mr Parker.

“I was disappointed in Senator Parker’s tweet,” Ms Stewart-Cousins wrote. “Suicide is a serious issue and should not be joked about in this manner. I am glad that he has apologised.”

Several Republican state senators took the controversy as an opportunity to slam Mr Parker, citing that he is unfit to serve office.

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State Senator Robert Ortt of North Tonawanda, Niagara County, said in a statement that Mr Parker “displayed reckless and damning behaviour.”

“It is clear that Sen. Parker, who already has a history of violence and aggression, is in no state to serve as an elected official,” Mr Ortt wrote.

Incoming state Senate Minority Leader John Flanagan of Suffolk County said Mr Parker’s tweet was “beyond the pale and beneath the state Senate.”

“This was reprehensible and it was wrong, and there can be no justification for it,” Flanagan said. “Ever.”

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Recently, Mr Parker has made headlines for proposing legislation that would require people seeking a gun permit to consent to having their social-media accounts searched for “objectionable content.”

The law, if passed, would require gun owners to hand over their social media passwords to the police for review.