Ohio Democrat Asks GOP Lawmaker To Mask Up On Train; He Cursed At Her

WASHINGTON, DC — A senior Republican congressman from Kentucky apologized late Tuesday for cursing at an Ohio Democratic lawmaker who asked him to wear a mask while on a train.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty on Tuesday ran into Republican Rep. Hal Rogers outside her congressional office on Tuesday. When Beatty, 71, asked him to put on a mask, Rogers, 84, begrudgingly agreed, she told The Associated Press shortly after it happened.

Rogers took off the mask when they exited the elevator, and later she asked him to put it back on when they entered a train in the Capitol complex. That's when the interaction became hostile.

“He poked me in the middle of my back and said, ‘Get on the train,’” she said. “And I said, ‘Don’t you ever touch me.’”

Rogers replied, “Kiss my a--," Beatty said.

Beatty told CNN’s “New Day” on Wednesday morning there was a sign that said people needed to wear a mask to board the train.

“It was insulting,” she said said. “It angered me that he would have the nerve to poke me in my back. That was bad enough.”

In a tweet Tuesday afternoon, Beatty said the encounter embodied the type of "disrespect" that Democrats have been fighting for years. She said it was indicative of a larger issue they have with GOP lawmakers who have been flouting "health and safety mandates designed to keep us and our staff safe."

She asked for an apology both on Twitter and on the train, as did all 56 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who stood on the House steps to demand an apology. Beatty is Black. Rogers is white.

“I hate to think if it had been reversed and a man of color ... they would have ushered him off the floor,” Beatty said.

Rogers said in a statement after the incident that he met with Beatty and apologized.

“My words were not acceptable and I expressed my regret to her, first and foremost,” Rogers said.

Late Tuesday, Beatty said she accepted the apology.

“As I have throughout the pandemic, I will continue to stand up for health and safety measures," she said. "And as I did today, I will never tolerate bullying, no matter who does it.”

Beatty represents Ohio's 3rd District, which encompasses Columbus and many of the surrounding suburbs, including Whitehall, Reynoldsburg and Prairie Township.

Rogers represents Kentucky's 5th District in the heart of Appalachia in southeastern Kentucky, including London, Somerset and Corbin.