A now-married Republican lawmaker exposed for lying about his age on Tinder for nearly a decade is facing calls to apologize.
Representative Ryan MacKenzie of Pennsylvania claimed on the dating app that he was 29 years old, when he was actually 37 in March 2020.
Now, 100 women voters have shown up on the second anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade to demand that he take responsibility for his actions.
Eight years into his career as a state legislator, in March 2020, Mackenzie was telling women on Tinder that he was eight years younger than he really was. He messaged at least one woman from the profile: ‘Survive the pandemic?’
Mackenzie is now running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Pennsylvania against Democratic incumbent Susan Wild.
The concerned women said Mackenzie “never took responsibility” for the lie, noting that his campaign only told DailyMail.com that he was neither engaged nor married at the time of the profile.
On Monday, more than 100 constituents wrote to state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie demanding an apology after DailyMail.com reported that he lied about his age on his Tinder profile for nearly a decade.
“Trolling younger women on Tinder is one thing (we can’t help but notice that you manipulated your age by almost a decade), but doing so while you are actively serving in the Pennsylvania State Legislature is another,” the letter said.
“We can’t help but wonder what else they will lie to Pennsylvania women about over the next five months as they try to capture our votes.”
“We are concerned that if you cannot take responsibility for your actions on something as small as a dating app, you will not be able to behave honorably as our representative in Washington,” the women continued.
At the time, his family had been in politics for decades. She had already run briefly for Congress in 2018 and had represented the Lehigh Valley in the state House since 2012 alongside her mother, state Rep. Milou Mackenzie.
Mackenzie is now locked in a tight race against incumbent Democrat Susan Wild for Pennsylvania’s 7th District.
Mackenzie is now married to his wife Chloe and they have a young son.
The district where Mackenzie and Wild will face off in November is one of the most divided in the country (Biden only won it by 0.6 points in 2020) and remains a prime target for the GOP. Wild has represented him since 2018.
Mackenzie, his wife Chloe and their young son in a Father’s Day post
Screenshot of Ryan MacKenzie’s Tinder profile
Mackenzie’s Tinder profile stated that he was ‘Always up for a good time!’ Outgoing, fun and enjoys travelling, skiing, trying new restaurants and having drinks with friends.’
His statehouse bio lists his date of birth as August 3, 1982. The dog on his Tinder profile is the same dog he owns. aware of your social media accounts.
Mackenzie’s profile lists him as a “ninth-generation Lehigh Valley resident.” He held Trump-appointed positions on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Local Government Advisory Committee and as commissioner of the White House Presidential Scholarship Commission.