The top Democrat in the Kansas House says the chamber’s Republican speaker shouldn’t resign over forwarding an email about Democratic President Barack Obama.

The email forwarded to fellow Republicans by Speaker Mike O’Neal, of Hutchinson, cites a Bible verse that begins, “Let his days be few.”

House Minority Leader Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat, said Friday the email was disturbing. But Davis also said O’Neal’s action in forwarding it to others doesn’t warrant his resignation as speaker or from the House. Davis noted that O’Neal has issued an apology.

The speaker has said the email was political commentary about Obama’s re-election. O’Neal’s office declined comment Friday.

More than 34,000 people — including 4,000 Kansans — put their names on an Internet petition demanding that O’Neal step down from the Legislature.