Pennsylvanian GOP candidate says he wants ‘20 strong men’ to help remove school boards over Covid safety measures

Lawmaker calls groups ‘wannabe tyrants’

Steven Lynch, candidate for Northampton County executive, tells rallygoers in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania he wants to take “20 strong men” to force a local school board to resign. (screengrab)

All Pennsylvanian GOP candidate Steve Lynch wants is a few strong men to help him remove school board members in his county.

Mr Lynch - who is running for Northampton County executive - said as much during a rally on Sunday in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

He claimed that the school boards - who he and his supporters were frustrated with for enforcing mask mandates - were "done," and expressed his desire to "make men, men again”..

"When we walk into those school boards, we’re gonna have everything we need to do to go in there with those 9-0 school boards that voted to put these masks back on children with no scientific — it’s done! Giving them the research and the data," he said. "Do you understand that? Forget going into these school boards with frigging data."

Mr Lynch then suggested he would take groups of men to a school board to intimidate them into leaving their positions.

"You go into school boards to remove ’em! That’s what you do! They don’t follow the law! You go in and you remove ’em," he said. "I’m going in there with 20 strong men, I’m going to speak to the school board and I’m going to give them an option. They can leave or they can be removed."

The Independent has reached out to Mr Lynch for comment.

Mr Lynch is the owner of Keystone Alternative Medicine and Weight Loss, which provides "testosterone and hormone replacement therapy" as well as a bevy of weight loss and anti-aging treatments.

Known for posting grainy videos of himself talking in his car and his support of Donald Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, Mr Lynch has recently attached himself to the GOP culture war bandwagon issue of masks in schools.

In a post on Facebook, Mr Lynch wrote that he was "coming for" the Northampton School Board, saying they were going to "be removed and I'm not going to stop fighting until you're removed," calling them "wannabe tyrants."

Mr Lynch was in Washington DC marching with other Trump supporters to the Capitol on the day of the 6 January insurrection. Though there is no evidence Mr Lynch actually entered the Capitol, he did defend the rioters in a video, complaining that there "was no siege" and that "we are being described as domestic terrorists."

Video of his comments began to spread around social media and garnered news coverage in the hours after. On Monday morning, Mr Lynch appeared to walk back his comment in a Facebook post stressing that he intended to follow the letter of the law.

"We will follow the letter of the law so that every word we speak and action we take brings us closer to establishing the will of the people," he said in a Facebook post to parents, stressing "we must overcome government overreach through law and order."

He also posted a video of himself in his car stressing the need to remove school boards "through the legal process" hours after his comments began circulating online.

Northampton County has been reporting more new coronavirus cases per day than any other county in the state. Two weeks ago, Northampton County averaged 29 new cases per day per 100,000 residents. With a population of around 312,000, that means the county is adding an average of about 90 new cases daily.

On Thursday of that week, the county reported 135 new cases, its highest daily report of new cases since last April.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that all students, teachers and staff wear masks during the school day. That guidance has faced fierce opposition from conservative groups and some conservative lawmakers, including Floria Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who have both used their executive powers to ban school districts from enforcing mask mandates.