Several Lehigh Valley candidates in the 2025 election put out statements Monday in response to comments attributed to Kelly Keegan, a Northampton County Council member and Easton Area School District employee, in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s murder.
Three Democrats running for offices in Northampton County said they disagreed with the comments.
Images posted to social media over the weekend showed a Facebook post in which Keegan, a Democrat, calls Kirk, who was assassinated last week, a “monster,” and writes that “his wife and kids are better off without him as is the rest of the world.”The Morning Call was unable to independently verify the posts, and Keegan did not respond to requests for comment.
County Controller Tara Zrinski, who is seeking the county executive post, said she does not condone Keegan’s comments. In a lengthy statement on Facebook, she said the comments “were in poor judgment and have no place in civil discourse. Her words do not reflect me, the Democratic Party, or the values of Northampton County. She speaks only for herself.”
Jason Boulette, a Wind Gap Council member who is running for County Council, said someone asked him at the Forks Township Community Days over the weekend if he was willing to disagree with Keegan’s comments.
“I told him that I didn’t agree with the comments that were made, and they should not have been made,” Boulette said in a statement. “As the parent of a 13-year-old, my heart goes out to these children who will now grow up without a father. We have children being shot in our schools and children losing their parents, and it has to stop.”
Another Democrat running for County Council, Hellertown zoning officer Teresa Fadem, said she cherishes and respects Americans’ First Amendment right to free speech, but such freedom comes with a responsibility to speak thoughtfully.
“In moments of tragedy, empathy and restraint should prevail over divisiveness,” she said.
Easton Area schools Superintendent Tracy Piazza issued a statement saying it was reviewing “deeply concerning” social media comments by an employee. It did not name the employee in the communication that went out to the school community.
However, screenshots widely shared across social media show the post being attributed by Keegan, who works for the district as a nurse coordinator.
Piazza said the statements were “insensitive, without merit, and in conflict with all that we stand for as a district.”
The superintendent did not respond Monday to requests for comment.
Kirk was shot to death Wednesday as he spoke at an outdoor rally at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
A 22-year-old Utah man, Tyler Robinson, has been charged in the killing, which prompted international condemnation but also a wave of social media comments suggesting Kirk deserved his fate or should not be mourned because of his positions on gun rights, transgender rights and other topics.
In response, Kirk’s supporters on social media have been calling out people making insensitive comments about the conservative activist or even celebrating the assassination, and in some cases alerting their employers.
Keegan, a former Forks Township supervisor, was first elected to County Council in 2023, having run unopposed. Besides Forks, District 2 includes Easton, Glendon, Palmer Township, Stockertown, Tatamy, West Easton and Wilson.
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