Oregon congressional candidate takes nasty jab at first lady Melania Trump

Updated at 3:48 p.m. EST with a comment from first lady Melania Trump's spokeswoman.

Oregon congressional candidate Mark Roberts posted a nasty jab at first lady Melania Trump on Twitter Monday.

Roberts tweeted that the first lady "works by the hour," adding two hashtags: "#thinkdirty" and "#hoebag."

What's the story?

Roberts, who's running as an independent conservative in the 2nd Congressional District, wrote his insults in response to a post by Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.

Kirk had tweeted a comparison between the number of staff members employed by Trump versus the number of those who worked for former first lady Michelle Obama. He noted that Trump is making due with a much smaller staff of five compared to Obama's 44 staff members.

Here's what Kirk tweeted and the response from Roberts:

Did he tweet anything else?

Apparently, Roberts, who has reported no campaign earnings to date, thought his tweet would be a good way to bring in donations for his race against incumbent GOP Rep. Greg Walden and Democratic candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner.

What he got was a lot of criticism for his tasteless tweet.

U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was one of the first to call for Twitter founder Jack Dorset to ban Roberts from Twitter:

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Fox News' Laura Ingraham also urged Dorset to ban Roberts.

Roberts replied with a screenshot of Twitter's statement that it was not going to take action on Roberts' account.

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Many other Twitter users were incredulous, but Roberts had no intention of backing down. For example:

TheBlaze made multiple attempts to reach Roberts' campaign for comment on his tweet but no one responded to the requests.

President Donald Trump has not publicly said anything about the exchange.

Stephanie Grisham, the spokeswoman for the first lady, slammed Roberts for his distasteful comments about Melania Trump.

"This is just more hypocritical intolerance from those who oppose her husband’s administration. To say such ugly words about a mother, wife, and our First Lady is not just a pathetic attempt at getting himself in the news; it is disturbing and despicable," Grisham told Glamour.

Does he have any chance of winning the seat?

Roberts has virtually no chance of unseating Walden, who's considered a safe win in Oregon's 2nd Congressional District, according to Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.