The Indiana Democratic Party condemned his remarks as “un-American” and others also expressed their shock and anger.

Braun later walked back the remarks in a statement, saying he had “misunderstood” a line of questioning, but the senator is facing fierce criticism for his original comments.

Those comments come as the Senate Judiciary Committee holds confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, who would be the first Black woman ever to sit on the Court if confirmed.

During a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, Braun said the issue of abortion should have been left to the states rather than being legalized throughout the country by 1973’s Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. When he was asked whether the same approach should apply to interracial marriage, the senator agreed.

The Supreme Court found that states could not prohibit interracial marriage in 1967’s landmark case Loving v. Virginia. Braun was pressed on whether he believed the Court should leave the issue to the states and answered “yes.”

“I think that’s something―if you’re not wanting the Supreme Court to weigh in on issues like that, you’re not going to be able to have your cake and eat it too. I think that’s hypocritical,” Braun said.

Mike Schmuhl, chairman of the Indiana Democratic Party, issued a statement strongly criticizing Braun on Tuesday.

“Mike Braun’s words and views are not only un-American, but beneath any respectable person wishing to hold public office,” Schmuhl said.

“The United States Supreme Court has affirmed many times that marriage equality in our country extends to any committed couple regardless of sex, race, orientation, or religious affiliation, and to question that legitimacy questions the very fabric of America and its people,” he said.

Schmuhl said that Indiana Democrats “implore all Hoosiers to ask themselves if they want to be associated with someone as embarrassing as Mike Braun and a form of partisanship that endorses white nationalist views.”

Thomas McDermott Jr., the Democratic mayor of Hammond, Indiana and a U.S. Senate candidate, called on Senator Todd Young (R-IN) to join him in condemning Braun’s comments.

“It is appalling that a U.S. Senator from IN claims that the U.S. Supreme Ct shouldn’t decide the right of people to marry inter-racially,” McDermott tweeted. “I condemn @SenatorBraun’s comments and I urge @SenToddYoung to join me in condemning views that should be left behind in our nation’s past.”

Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, shared a video of Braun’s remarks and asked: “What planet am I living on?”

“Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Braun said states should be able to ban interracial marriage and that @scotus should overturn the landmark 1967 case Loving v. Virginia. Is this really the debate now in this country after 55 years, what the absolute f*ck?” Martin wrote.

Emmett Macfarlane, a political science professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, quipped: “We are a year or two away from the GOP becoming pro slavery.”

Tennessee State Senator Raumesh Akbari referred to her own parents’ marriage in a tweet criticizing Braun.

“My parents were married in 1981, just 14 years after the #Loving decision,” Akbari said. “From different cultures & continents, they were united because of LOVE. I’m happy we don’t live in #MikeBraun’s warped & hateful world, otherwise I wouldn’t exist. It’s 2022, y’all.”

In a statement on Tuesday, Braun walked back his comments about the Supreme Court and interracial marriage.

“Earlier during a virtual press conference I misunderstood a line of questioning that ended up being about interracial marriage, let me be clear on that issue—there is no question the Constitution prohibits discrimination of any kind based on race, that is not something that is even up for debate, and I condemn racism in any form, at all levels and by any states, entities, or individuals,” Braun said.

A spokesperson for Braun also told The Hill newspaper that the senator did not support overturning Loving v. Virginia.

Newsweek has asked Braun’s office for comment.