The Raleigh News & Observer: “North Carolina House Democrats walked out of Monday night’s session before Republican Donnie Loftis was sworn in as the chamber’s newest member. The Gaston County Republican Party selected Loftis, a 30-year Army veteran and former county commissioner, to complete the term of Rep. Dana Bumgardner, who died in October.
“Democrats, in walking out, were objecting to Loftis because of his participation in protests at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 — protests that devolved into a violent riot. Loftis posted on social media then that he ‘got gassed three times and was at the entrance when they breached the door.’
“‘My Oath of Enlistment has the phrase “both foreign and domestic.” We didn’t think it would actually be domestic,’ Loftis wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post. Loftis told WRAL in late October — after being selected for the House — that his involvement was strictly peaceful. ‘I had absolutely zero involvement in the rioting and categorically condemn the storming of our Capitol building that day,’ he told the station.”