CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A Republican lawmaker in West Virginia who resigned after posting an anti-gay slur is set to elude political consequences now that he has won back his seat.
John Mandt stepped down as a Statehouse delegate in the heat of his reelection campaign last October after screenshots showed him using the slur in a Facebook Messenger group.
It had been the latest in a series of discriminatory remarks from him about gay people and Muslims.
But he reversed his decision to bow out of the race and won re-election.
According to The Associated Press, Republican House Speaker, Roger Hanshaw, declared that bigotry had no place in the state in October.
But Hanshaw has since changed his stance, having picked Mandt to be the committee's vice chair on small businesses and economic development.
Hanshaw did not say Mandt would face any repercussions, The AP reported.
