The Vice Chair of the Young Republicans is in political hot water after being caught laughing — and seemingly endorsing — a racist “coon” joke on her Facebook page.

Audra Shay, Vice Chair of the Young Republicans, replied to a comment on her Facebook page which declared the “need to take this country back from all of these mad coons” with “You tell em Eric! lol.”

The remark was caught by John Avlon at The Daily Beast. A screenshot of the Facebook comment can be seen here. Avlon says that Shay is the most likely candidate to be elected chair of the Young Republican group.

“On Wednesday, Shay—a 38-year-old Army veteran, mother, and event planner from Louisiana who has been endorsed by her governor, Bobby Jindal—was holding court on her Facebook page, initiating a political conversation by posting that ‘WalMart just signed a death warrant’ by ‘endorsing Obama’s healthcare plan,’” Avlon notes. “At 1:52, a friend named listed as Eric S. Piker, but whose personal page says his actual name is Eric Pike, wrote ‘It’s the government making us commies… can’t even smoke in my damn car… whats next they going to issue toilet paper once a month… tell us how to wipe our asses…’”

Piker then posted again. “Obama Bin Lauden [sic] is the new terrorist,” he penned. “Muslim is on there side [sic]… need to take this country back from all of these mad coons… and illegals.”

In reply, Shay wrote: “You tell em Eric! lol.”

Shay says she was only responding to Pike’s earlier comment. “The eight-minute gap between the second post and her response strains the credibility of this defense,” Avlon writes. Shay’s original reference was to an announcement that Wal-Mart would back a Democrat-backed US healthcare bill that required employers to provide insurance for their employees.

Several commenters expressed outrage with Pike’s remark.

“Someone please help a naïve Seattle girl out, is Eric’s comment a racist slur?” a national committeewoman from the Washington Young Republican Federation wrote. “I just looked it up. ‘It comes from a term baracoons (a cage) where they used to place Africans who were waiting to be sent to America to be slaves.’ THIS IS NOT OKAY AND IT’S NOT FUNNY.”