JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — The chaos at the US Capitol generated more outrage in Jacksonville on Thursday.
A group of protesters gathered outside Congressman John Rutherford’s Jacksonville office, saying his refusal to accept the result of the presidential election contributed to Wednesday's riots by political extremists.
Lara Ragunas is a Jacksonville woman who voted for Joe Biden.
She felt that Rutherford undermined the election by refusing to certify the results.
“Unfortunately, Representative Rutherford chose to help incite that violence and after the violence occurred he chose to make a passive statement in support of democracy after he has done everything to subvert it,” Ragunas said.
Rutherford was not available for comment Thursday but spoke to First Coast News from a secure location on Wednesday.
“Congress, we were on the floor, we were following a peaceful and well-laid out legal process,” Rutherford said.
He tweeted a statement Thursday saying “our constitutional process of debating the state electors is now complete. Congratulations to President-elect Biden and Vice-President-elect Harris.”
Kevin Conner, a Clay County resident says he organized the protest.
Conner feels that what Rutherford said after the US Capitol was stormed was too little too late.
“There was no way that Joe Biden wasn’t going to be the President. He knew. But he was still trying to appease this rabid right-wing, that we saw 3,000 people storming the Capitol yesterday. Those were the people John Rutherford was pandering to. He has disgraced that office and he needs to step down now,” Conner said.