MILWAUKEE, (Reuters) – The son of former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson has apologized for telling Republicans that the Nov. 6 election gives them the chance to send U.S. President Barack Obama back “to Kenya.”
Obama’s father was from Kenya and mother was from Kansas. The president was born in Hawaii.
“We have the opportunity to send President Obama back to Chicago – or Kenya,” said Jason Thompson, a frequent surrogate for his father who faces Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin in a race for a Wisconsin U.S. Senate seat. Wisconsin is also a battleground state in the presidential election.
The 38-year-old Thompson was caught on video speaking at a brunch on Sunday organized by the local Republican Party.
Attendees chuckled at the remark and a woman said: “We are taking donations for that Kenya trip.”
Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, attended the event alongside Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brad Courtney, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Priebus and Courtney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The older Thompson’s campaign later apologized for the remarks, which were captured by an embedded Democrat and appeared on website BuzzFeed Politics.
“The Governor has addressed this with his son, just like any father would do,” said the spokeswoman, Lisa Boothe, in a statement. “Jason Thompson said something he should not have, and he apologizes.”
“Governor Thompson was not at the event,” Boothe added.
Some conservatives and conspiracy theorists have raised questions that have been widely discredited on whether Obama was born on foreign soil, which would make him ineligible for the presidency.
Obama released a detailed copy of his birth certificate last year that showed he was born in Hawaii to try to put an end to such speculation.
