The chairman of the South Dakota Republican Party says he would have voted against a measure to suspend Republican Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller had he been present for the vote on Thursday.

Sen. John Wiik, who won the chairman’s race earlier this month, told The Dakota Scout that he was not present on the Senate floor when the vote was taken because he was attending to his son, a legislative page, who was ill at the time.

“I would have been a no-vote had I been in the room,” he said.

NEWS: Frye-Mueller says female staffer sought advice for an issue as a young mother