Air Force Col. Kim Olson is the current frontrunner in the Democratic primary for the open House seat in the 24th Congressional District of Texas. This seat is being vacated by Rep. Kenny Marchant, a Republican, who is retiring.

Olson was asked to comment about calls to “defund the police” in an interview on Tuesday.

During her four minute response to this question, Olson casually said, “What the hell you got snipers on the roof for in a peaceful march? Even if people loot, so what? Burn it to the ground, you know, if that’s what it’s going to take to fix our nation. I don’t think people want me to say that.”

In a statement to The Washington Examiner, Olson’s campaign manager Rachel Perry wrote: “This quote is being taken out of context. As a combat vet, Colonel Olson knows first hand the human heartbreak of violence. She knows we cannot use force to fix a systemic problem of undue violence and discrimination perpetrated by those who are sworn to protect and serve. We have to rebuild from the ground up a color-blind public safety institution across America.”

The 24th district covers much of the suburban area in between Fort Worth and Dallas. At a time when Republicans are trying desperately to win back the majority in the House, so we can avoid another two years of investigations and new impeachment inquiries, they are worried about this seat flipping to the Democrats.

According to The Examiner:

Cook Political Report rates the race as a “Republican toss up.” Politico also calls it a toss-up.

The winner will face former Irving, Texas Mayor Beth Van Duyne, who easily won her Republican primary contest earlier this year, in the general election.

Olson unsuccessfully ran to be Texas’s agriculture commissioner in 2018, losing to Republican incumbent Sid Miller by about 5 points.

Her military career is a highlight of her resume — she was one of the first women to attend and graduate from military flight school — but it is also a potential liability. In the early 2000s, when she was stationed in Iraq, the Pentagon accused Olson of directing contracts to a private security firm that she helped operate. While Olson denies personally profiting from the arrangement, she pleaded guilty to charges that included creating the appearance of a conflict of interest, paid a $3,500 fine, and was permitted to retire with an honorable discharge. That history has not been a major issue in her campaigns or line of attack from her opponents.

How will Olson’s remark, “Even if people loot, so what? Burn it to the ground,” play out in Texas? Not very well, one would think. Even as recently as 2018, a comment like this would have been unthinkable.

However, as more and more liberals move into the Dallas/Forth Worth area, this district has turned purple. And starting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrats have turned a blind eye to the looting and the destruction which has taken place in cities across the U.S. in the wake of the death of George Floyd. Even prior to the riots, Democrats had been veering to the left at an alarming pace.

Democrats no longer even try to hide their radical agenda. Positions that would have been considered extremist a short time ago have now become mainstream.

If the Democrats prevail in November, America, as we’ve known her, will be lost.

The Democrat primary in the 24th District has become a despicable race to the bottom for who can be the most extreme, most radical, and most destructive to our neighborhoods, state, and nation.https://t.co/ui6Vud3qCA

— Beth Van Duyne (@Bethvanduyne) June 11, 2020

(Relevant portion starts at 3:10.)