Social media erupts after Dem senator compares 'political stunt' to civil rights leader: 'Woke insult'

Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse defends ties to alleged all-White beach club

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Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse faced immediate blowback on Thursday in response to a social media post where he compared his Democratic colleague's outburst at a press conference to the work of Civil Rights pioneer and late Congressman John Lewis. 

Shortly after Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., was forcibly removed and handcuffed during a press conference held by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles amid anti-ICE rioting, Sen. Whitehouse posted a photo of the incident alongside a historic photo of Lewis being confronted by police officers after being attacked by a mob at a South Carolina bus station. 

Lewis was arrested over 40 times during the Civil Rights Movement and was a major figure during many prominent moments of the era, including the Freedom Rides, speaking at the March on Washington and participating in the Selma to Montgomery marches in Alabama. 

GOP Congressman Burgess Owens, who was raised in the Jim Crow South, was one of many who took issue with the comparison. 

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Dem. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse compared Dem. Sen. Alex Padilla to Civil Rights icon John Lewis on Thursday (Getty;AP )

"Talk about a cheap, woke insult," Owens told Fox News Digital. "As someone who grew up under segregation in the Deep South, I can tell you: comparing this political stunt to the courage of the Civil Rights Movement is offensive, wrong, and shameful."

The post was also criticized by conservatives on social media. 

"Sit this one out," White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Harrison Fields posted on X.

"Are you insane," Fox News host Lawrence Jones posted on X. 

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U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, Democrat from California, is removed from the room after interrupting a news conference with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles on June 12, 2025. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

"That reminds me — how is your whites-only beach club doing?" Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway posted on X, referencing Whitehouse’s membership in an exclusive Rhode Island sailing club that has been criticized for reportedly only allowing White members.

"Neither would be allowed at Sheldon’s all white beach club," Republican communicator Matt Whitlock posted on X. 

Whitehouse has denied that the club has "exclusionary rules for membership" but acknowledged it "does lack diversity" and apologized for "failing to address the sailing club’s lack of diversity." 

Fox News Digital reached out to Whitehouse’s office for comment.

Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., told Fox News in a statement that "the comparison alone by Senator Whitehouse is disrespectful, but also quite rich coming from the guy with a membership to an exclusive, all-white country club." 

"It appears the morally bankrupt Democrat Party is willing to go to extreme lengths to justify Senator Padilla’s pathetic political stunt, including comparing his inappropriate outburst to John Lewis’ heroic fight for civil rights," he said. 

Padilla, the first Latino elected to the Senate from California, sparked a media firestorm Thursday over the press conference incident where his office says he was trying to ask Noem a question before he was "forcibly removed by federal agents, forced to the ground and handcuffed." 

The video of officers removing and then bringing Padilla to the ground quickly spread among lawmakers on Capitol Hill, with some senators watching the spectacle unfold on the Senate floor.  

Democratic lawmakers universally condemned the level of force used to remove Padilla, and staged a march to the offices of both House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D, in protest. 

Some demanded that Noem resign from her post. 

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Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"Kristi Noem should never have been appointed to that office," fellow California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff said. "She should resign from that office. There ought to be an investigation of the conduct of those officers."

The reaction on the opposite side of the aisle was largely on the same page, with Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., accusing Padilla of making "a spectacle of himself," and questioning why he did not show up for Senate votes. 

Others wanted to know if a crime had been committed, like Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, who was presiding over the Senate floor when the video began making the rounds. 

"In fact, the Democrats are the ones that like to say nobody's above the law," he told Fox News Digital. "Now it's a little ironic, given that they cheered as the FBI raided the house of a former president with almost completely no justification whatsoever." 

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to [email protected].