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Newly Elected Democrat Calls Tennessee 'Racist,' Republican Voters 'Uneducated

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (CBS Local) -- A newly elected Democrat in Tennessee is facing criticism for controversial comments she made on a now-deleted Facebook video.

London Lambar, an African-American woman who ran uncontested in the largely Democratic House District 91 that includes parts of Memphis, posted the video the day after last week's midterm election.

"Tennessee's racist. Period. Period. Like, Tennessee is racist," Lamar said in the video. "Most of the Tennesseeans who voted Republican are uneducated."

"White men voted Republican over - well over 60 or 70 percent, so obviously that's a particular base of people who believe in superiority," Lamar said in another part of the video.

Some of Lamar's future constituents take issue with her words.

"Tennessee is not racist. It's the people that's in Tennessee that's racist," Ron Burgess told WREG.

"I think that our country, in general, has a long way to go, but you can't make a blanket statement like that, you know, so I just -- I totally disagree with that," said Rachel Drozinski.

Lamar issued an apology Monday, saying "we want to make sure we don't over-generalize groups of people." But she also defended the underlying message of her controversial comments.

"What we have seen is that many of the folks who voted Republican based their judgement on racially charged rhetoric that was coming down from the White House," Lamar said.

Lamar promises to be an advocate for everyone in her district when she takes office in January regardless of race or party affiliation.

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