Next News Network

The Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania is heating up between three candidates, the Trump-endorsed celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, hedge funder Dave McCormick, and political newcomer Kathy Barnette. The latter got a huge surge in the polls over voter distaste for the other two candidates, but now some of her past statements have come back to haunt her.

One in particular about Islam from her official account has gotten her a lot of flak in the media. In 2015, she tweeted that “pedophilia is the cornerstone of Islam.”

Her response was that she “would never have said that.”

On Sunday, Barnette sat down with MSNBC for an interview. They asked her about her anti-Islamic tweets.

Barnette told MSNBC when asked about the tweet said the following, “I think it’s very unfair to take a snippet… I don’t know how many characters that is. And say, ‘Okay, we’re going to take this clip and this is what she meant. We have no beginning, we have no end, we have no idea what the context was…”

The NBC reporter cuts her off, “I mean this tweet says ‘Pedophilia is a cornerstone of Islam.'”

Barnette responded, “Yeah. No. I don’t think that’s me. I would never have said that.”

Dr. Oz has stepped up his attacks of Barnette saying that people should steer clear of her. Oz would be the nation’s first Muslim Senator and said that her comments were “disqualifying” for the office.

“It’s reprehensible that she would tweet out something that is defamatory to an entire religion,” Oz told AP. “This state was based on religious freedom. I’m proud as a Pennsylvanian to uphold those founding beliefs that every faith has its merits.”

Trump weighed in Barnette and said that she could “never” win a general election, but despite that she is less than three points behind Dr. Oz and one point ahead of McCormick.

The Barnette campaign has not responded to requests for comment.

The tweet is still live on her Twitter feed, says the Morning Call.

Do you think Barnette could win this election? Let us know your thoughts below.