Deleted social media posts from 2020 have resurfaced to draw scrutiny to Rocque Perez, a Democratic candidate running for the Arizona Senate in Legislative District 20.

Perez has campaigned on a platform opposing political inaction, ideological cruelty and public disinvestment. But posts preserved on the internet archive Wayback Machine show his account made a series of aggressive comments that year, including a response to a post by Ivanka Trump:

"Someone throw this (expletive) off the capitol building roof please."

Other archived posts include, "So kill them, do your duty baby girl," and a comment about a conservative activist:

"How has she not gotten beat yet? like... hath no one the bravery to literally hurt her cause... ??"

The posts were first reported by the California Globe, a conservative news outlet, with the Arizona Republic later publishing its own report.

Perez initially declined to address the posts directly when interviewed by the Republic, saying they were "material put out without my consent."

He later acknowledged them in a statement posted to Instagram.

"As someone who came of age online, I also directed anger toward the Trump administration in public," Perez wrote. "How I went about that then is not how I would do so today, but I'm not running for the top seat in a perfection contest."

In the same post, Perez described the experiences he says shaped that anger. He wrote that he was a fellow student council member of Christina-Taylor Green, the 9-year-old killed in the 2011 assassination attempt targeting then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

He said he faced prejudice as a Latino student and as the only openly gay person in his classrooms, was laid off from a student job during the pandemic, and began a congressional internship in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.

He also wrote that his family navigated the addiction system after his younger brother became dependent on fentanyl, and that his brother died of an overdose at 19.

"Political violence is something we endure in many ways and the imperative to confront it is why I am running for the Arizona Senate," Perez wrote.

In the post, Perez also directed pointed criticism at his primary opponent, state Rep. Alma Hernandez, accusing her of having "weaponized her power to inflict harm" against Arizonans and saying her record is "under scrutiny after eight years of misalignment."

"I am deeply troubled by my opponent's pattern of behavior and his continued refusal to take accountability," Hernandez said in a statement to Tucson Spotlight. "These are not isolated lapses in judgment; they raise serious questions about his character, maturity, and fitness for public office."

Democrats should hold themselves to the same standards they expect from everyone else, she said.

"There should be no tolerance for rhetoric that normalizes violence, no acceptance of dishonesty, and no willingness to excuse conduct that undermines public trust," Hernandez said.

The race has been contentious from the start. Perez filed a lawsuit in April seeking to remove Hernandez from the ballot over more than $20,000 in unpaid fines related to late campaign finance filings, a challenge that was ultimately rejected by a Pima County Superior Court judge.

The LD20 Democratic Committee has also issued a formal statement of concern against Hernandez over more than 150 votes she cast alongside Republicans during her time in the House.

The posts were deleted from X, though comment threads and replies remain visible on the platform.

The primary election is July 21

Quentin Agnello is a University of Arizona alum and freelance journalist in Tucson. Contact him at qsagnello@gmail.com.

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