Opinion: Why I Can No Longer Support Dan Lofy for Mayor

When I first asked Daniel Lofy about a screenshot showing a racist remark under his name, the Florence mayoral candidate called it “More malicious attacks” and suggested that material on Facebook could be fabricated. When I pressed him to say whether he had written the comment, he later acknowledged it and apologized.

That sequence matters. So do the words themselves.

The screenshot shows a Facebook comment beneath a political meme featuring Donald Trump: “What? When our great President Trump took over and we ousted the baboon”. I understand the reference to be to former President Barack Obama.

Dan’s initial response was: “More malicious attacks. Did you see the post President Lincoln wrote”. He continued: “In other words don't believe everything you see on facebook to be true. Things can be made up very easily”.

He did not explicitly say, “I did not write that.” But in response to a question about this screenshot, he raised fabrication as an explanation. I asked him directly whether he was saying he did not write the comment and that the screenshot was fabricated.

He later replied: “I shouldn’t have said that and I’m sorry.”

His complete response was:

I just got back from Mt. Bachelor. And wanted to think about your question.

I shouldn’t have said that and I’m sorry.

As you’ll see from my comments with West of the Tunnel, when asked about words or posts I’ve liked in the past, I was very clear in saying that my post was written in part to myself.

We are all humans and we all fall short.

I also want to make it very clear that I never meant for that to be a racial comment. That is not how I view the world.

I have friends of all walks of life — people that are gay, that are straight, that are republicans, and that are democrats and everything in between.

My heart is about Florence and serving this community.

That is an acknowledgment and an apology, and both belong prominently in this story. But the apology does not erase the initial response. Before accepting responsibility, Dan cast doubt on the evidence I brought to him. Voters deserve to consider that sequence when assessing his judgment and accountability.

I have called Dan my friend. I supported his candidacy and displayed his sign outside my home for weeks. Former President Barack Obama is my distant cousin. Those connections belong in this account because readers deserve to know where a writer stands, particularly when friendship, family and public responsibility meet on uncomfortable ground.

I moved to Florence in early July of this year, but my connection to this place began before I was born. I have been coming here since I was a baby, and have spent many summers on Woahink Lake. Long before I lived here, I knew Florence would become my home one day. Now it is. I love this place. My concern for its future comes from a lifetime of attachment and the responsibility I feel toward the community I now call home.

I believed in Dan’s concern for Florence. I believed in preserving its historic character, and I still do. Our streets and buildings carry memories. Our river and lakes hold the stories of families who have returned for generations. But the character of a community also lives in the way its people treat one another, especially when disagreement makes kindness difficult.

Dan has been kind to me. I will say that plainly, because disappointment should not require dishonesty. He has done a great deal for this community, and the Florence Kiwanis Club’s website lists him as its 2025–2026 president. His service deserves recognition. Asking him a difficult question does not require erasing the good he has done.

But I am not a person of color. Although I have multiple lines of Native American ancestry, I look white, and someone meeting me could reasonably assume I am white. The kindness I have received cannot answer every question about someone else’s experience. Florence is largely white, and that makes listening beyond the majority important. It does not prove anything about Dan’s conduct toward minority residents. It reminds me that my own experience is a window, not the whole landscape.

The language in this screenshot carries a racial meaning that political anger cannot wash away. Comparing a Black president to a baboon is racist. A person can challenge policies, condemn decisions and reject a politician without degrading his humanity. My family connection to Obama does not create that standard. I would insist on it for someone unrelated to me.

I do not believe Dan is racist. I do believe the comment he has now acknowledged is racist. He says he did not intend it racially, and I am reporting that explanation directly. His stated intent and my judgment about the language are different things. I cannot claim to know every thought in his heart.

Dan’s acknowledgment is now the central evidence that he made the remark.

Eric Morris, who authorized me to use his name, initially recalled becoming aware of the material during summer 2020. He later told me the original screenshot dates to sometime in 2017. Those are different points in the material’s history: when it was reportedly created and when he recalls learning of it.

I have now spoken with the local source who supplied the screenshot to Eric. The source knows Dan personally and reported seeing the comment on Facebook and capturing the screenshot in 2017. The original file is no longer in the source’s possession. This account adds firsthand testimony to material previously passed to me through an intermediary, although I have not independently verified the original capture date.

The source is afraid to be named. I agreed to withhold the source’s identity because of a stated fear of Dan’s reaction to speaking publicly.

There is earlier reporting that deserves credit. In an October 22 mayoral profile published by Lookout Eugene-Springfield, Will Yurman of West of the Tunnel examined Dan’s social media conduct and his September essay against political hatred. Yurman described questions about the contrast between that essay and earlier posts, including an apparent comparison involving Obama. His interview was separate from my inquiry.

Yurman quoted Dan saying: “Maybe part of that was talking to myself.” Dan returned to that point in his new message to me. His latest response also goes further: he has now explicitly said he should not have made the remark and apologized. An account that omitted that development would be incomplete.

I agree with the purpose of an essay against political mudslinging. We should check facts. We should argue about ideas without making enemies of our neighbors. These are worthwhile principles. They become meaningful when we apply them at personal cost, rather than only when they protect our own side.

A call for civility should make room for hard questions. Respectful disagreement does not require silence. Friendship does not require a writer to look away. Public service does not place a candidate beyond scrutiny. The same standard that asks me to report fairly asks a person seeking leadership to answer clearly.

Shannon Warren responded with a statement about how she would serve as mayor. “I have my own personal beliefs and political perspectives, but when serving as mayor, I would put on my mayor hat and advocate for all residents of Florence, not just those who share my views,” she wrote.

“I believe in inclusion, curiosity over judgment, and embracing our differences.” She added: “I won’t pretend I’m perfect, but I believe respect and accountability matter, and I’ll do my best to lead with both, listen to differing perspectives, and bring people together rather than divide them.” Her statement addressed her approach to leadership; it did not offer a conclusion about the screenshot’s authenticity.

Today, I stood in front of my home, watching the river flow. Then I turned toward the sign on my front lawn: Dan Lofy for Mayor.

I felt shame. I had believed in him, and now I was struggling to reconcile the man I had supported with what he had written and how he had first responded.

I pulled the sign from the lawn and drove down my driveway. As I threw it in the trash, tears welled in my eyes. Then I closed the lid. It felt like closing a chapter of a book.

I am calling on Dan Lofy to withdraw from the mayoral race. Dan’s apology belongs in the record, and voters can assess his words and explanation for themselves.

Florence deserves leadership that can preserve what we cherish while making room for every person who belongs here. The family that arrived generations ago and the family unpacking boxes this week share an interest in that promise. A resident’s dignity does not depend on ancestry, wealth, race or political agreement. Everyone must be able to approach City Hall expecting a fair hearing.

I love Florence enough to ask difficult questions of someone I supported. I respect its people enough to trust them with the evidence and its limits. I owe Dan fairness, and I owe this community candor. I intend to give both. My responsibility remains to the people who call this place home.

Editor’s note: This essay has been updated.

Sources: Screenshot supplied to Siuslaw Country; the author’s account of his Messenger exchange and campaign involvement; Daniel Lofy’s follow-up message acknowledging the remark, apologizing and denying racial intent; Shannon Warren’s written statement provided for this article; Eric Morris’s accounts of becoming aware of the material around summer 2020 and dating the original screenshot to 2017; the account of an anonymous source who knows Dan personally and reports seeing the comment and capturing the screenshot in 2017; Will Yurman / West of the Tunnel, mayoral candidate profiles published by Lookout Eugene-Springfield, October 22, 2026; Kiwanis Club of Florence, Oregon, leadership page; City of Florence election information; U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, Florence city, Oregon.