A Mississippi politician has apologized after he called for his state to "succeed" in wake of Joe Biden's presidential victory.
"We need to succeed [sic] from the union and form our own country," State Rep. Price Wallace wrote in a since-deleted tweet.
The post was in response to a thread by Wallace's fellow state Rep. Robert Foster, who is among the GOP lawmakers who have questioned Biden's projected win over President Donald Trump.
"Not sure who all needs to hear this but we are not a Democracy. We are a Constitutional Republic. The majority does not rule, the law derived from a Constitution has the final say," Foster tweeted. "... After all legal votes are counted and confirmed by their state legislatures Republicans will accept the results even if it’s not in our favor. The same way we did with Obama twice."
Wallace made his account private early Wednesday following widespread backlash over his secession comment. He made the account public several hours later and issued an apology over his secession statement.
Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn also denounced Wallace's controversial statement, and insisted the lawmaker was "remorseful" for what he said.
"We certainly do not condone nor agree with Price’s comment, but I have spoken to Price, and he is very apologetic and remorseful for what he said," Gunn told Mississippi Free Press. "He deeply regrets his comment and as I understand it has issued an apology and a retraction."
