“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” he [Bundy] said.

“They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life...

A spokesman for Paul, informed of Bundy’s remarks, said the senator was not available for immediate comment. Chandler Smith, a spokesman for Heller, said that the senator “completely disagrees with Mr. Bundy’s appalling and racist statements, and condemns them in the most strenuous way.” A spokeswoman for Abbott, Laura Bean, said that the letter he wrote “was regarding a dispute in Texas and is in no way related to the dispute in Nevada.”