Voters largely rebuke lawmaker’s call for Clinton to be shot

To New Hampshire voters, hearing an eyebrow-raising comment from state Rep. Al Baldasaro, a Republican and fervent Donald Trump supporter, is nothing new.

He has mocked a female colleague’s breasts, expressed “disgust” at a gay soldier and proudly told reporters to get their heads “out of your butts” in defense of Trump, the Republican presidential nominee. But Baldasaro’s comments took a darker turn this week, when he said presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton should be “put in the firing line and shot for treason” over the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans while Clinton was serving as secretary of state. The U.S. Secret Service says it’s investigating the comments.
“I’m afraid for her life,” said Joanna Casey, a Democrat and one of Baldasaro’s constituents from Londonderry. “If you feel that way, keep that to yourself. We’ve got enough going on in this country with violence.”
Baldasaro is a delegate for Trump at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, where he made his firing squad comments, and is often invited to stand behind Trump on stage at events beyond New Hampshire. Trump has even declared Baldasaro, a Marine Corps veteran, his “favorite vet.”
But Baldasaro’s latest remarks aren’t winning support back home. Prominent New Hampshire Republicans from U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte to House Speaker Shawn Jasper denounced Baldasaro’s comments.