Republican Congressional Candidate Deemed 'Unfit For Public Office' By His Own Party

Republican Tim D'Annunzio, who is running for congress in North Carolina's eighth district, is being attacked as "unfit for public office at any level" by his own political party.

Tom Fetzer, who chairs the North Carolina GOP, came out swinging at D'Annunzio over the weekend as the congressional hopeful battles Harold Johnson for the Republican nomination ahead of a June 22 runoff election.

"By my personal observation of his behavior, and by acquaintance with his record and background, I consider Mr. D'Annunzio unfit for public office at any level," Fetzer explained to the Charlotte Observer. "What he could do to the party as our nominee is secondary in my view to what he could do to the country if he got elected. If he got elected, for crying out loud, that would be a disaster."

D'Annunzio dismissed Fetzer's attack as nothing more than an effort to "destroy" his congressional ambitions. Amid pressure to drop out of the race, the GOP contender defended, "All those are accusations as part of a bitter divorce that has ended and all that has gone by the wayside."

More about D'Annunzio from the Charlotte Observer:

Court documents portray D'Annunzio as "a self-described religious zealot" who once called the U.S. government the Antichrist and told his ex-wife that he'd found the Ark of the Covenant.

D'Annunzio finished first in North Carolina's eighth district Republican primary race on May 4 after pouring $1 million of his own money into his campaign to capture the House seat currently held by Democrat Larry Kissell.

(Earlier this year, D'Annunzio raised eyebrows when his campaign held a "machine gun social" fundraiser at which a $25 contribution bought supporters a barbecue dinner and a semi-automatic machine gun magazine for use at Jim's Guns Indoor Shooting Range in Fayetteville, NC.)