HARRISBURG — A Republican state senator who was on the scene when a violent mob of fellow Donald Trump supporters commandeered the U.S. Capitol should resign, the top Democrat in the Pennsylvania Senate said Thursday.

Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, said Sen. Doug Mastriano’s words and actions since November encouraged a coup attempt and inspired the people behind it. At least eight other Senate Democrats have said Mastriano should step down.

“He has questioned the integrity of our elections without evidence, wasted taxpayer resources with sham hearings that claimed fraud without proof, and yesterday he was intimately engaged in the protest at the nation’s capital,” Costa said.

Mastriano, from Franklin County, has not returned multiple messages in the past two days, but said in a statement late Wednesday that he did not enter the Capitol or go beyond police lines, and “when it was apparent that this was no longer a peaceful protest, my wife and I left the area.”

In a video message, he said he did not support the violence, decried the mob’s attack on police and described how he and his wife had to drive through Washington traffic to get home.

One of those calling for his resignation, Sen. Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia, said Trump and Mastriano “proudly fanned the flames of insurrection. Yesterday, Mastriano traveled to Washington D.C. to see the fruits of his efforts and admire his work.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Centre, said he saw no basis for the Senate to remove Mastriano.

“He assured me that he did not participate in any unlawful activities,” Corman said.