CHARLESTON, WV — On Friday, Del. Mike Pushkin (D) allegedly confronted Del. Dianna Graves (R) aggressively, targeting her with vulgar comments.
In an interview with Mountaineer Journal, Graves accused Pushkin of calling her a “bigot” and “f**king disgusting,” among other horrific insults.
He also purportedly accused Graves of “condoning hate.”
Following the incident, Graves released the following statement:
“I think it’s important that the constituents of Delegate Mike Pushkin should know what type of person they have elected to represent them. On the Floor of the House, after the Session was over, he came up to me in a state of great anger and began spewing obscenities, and used language that should not be said to another human being, much less a lady. He said horrible, disgusting things to me in a rage because I stood up in defense of free speech. The same free speech he felt free to use to say demeaning and terrible things to me.
I did not respond in kind. I walked out of the Chamber to regain my composure.
To date, he has had several opportunities to apologize. He has not.
I will still defend free speech, even when I very much disagree with the way it was used. He cursed at me for defending the very thing he used to say hate filled things on the Floor of the WV House.
Now you know. It’s possible to deplore the way free speech is used, and yet we still need to defend freedom of speech.”
Del. Graves represents Kanawha’s 38th district, while Pushkin represents Kanawha’s 39th district.