![]() He had placed in the top two in the nonpartisan blanket primary on August 4, which meant under Washington election law, he appeared on the ballot in the general election. Rob Chase was a Republican candidate who successfully ran for District 4 of the Washington House of Representatives. He told Connecticut Public Radio that while he does not “believe in many of the wild eyed theories reportedly associated with the QAnon movement about pedophile conspiracies or satanic cults,” he does believe in “stopping corruption in politics, holding government accountable and protecting individual freedoms,” which “the movement has come to represent.” He added that QAnon “has allowed for people who have previously felt disconnected from public policy and government to be part of the conversation.” Berthel later released a statement saying his “failure to look into the movement more deeply, which I take full responsibility for, led me to overlook the extreme views of the movement which I don’t subscribe to and find abhorrent.” Berthel had a sticker with the QAnon slogan on his car. He had advanced after the Republican primary was canceled, according to Ballotpedia. Twenty-two candidates were Republicans, one was an independent, one was a member of New York’s Conservative Party, one was both a Republican and Conservative Party member, and one was a member of Hawaii’s Aloha Aina Party.īelow is the list of 2020 state legislative candidates who endorsed or gave credence to the conspiracy theory or promoted QAnon content, divided into sections for 1) candidates elected to state legislatures 2) candidates who lost the general election and 3) candidates who were no longer running before the general election.Įric Berthel is an incumbent Republican member of the Connecticut state Senate who successfully ran for reelection in District 32.Twenty-four candidates in total secured a spot on the general election ballot: three each from Minnesota and Arizona, two each from Washington, New York, New Hampshire and Maine, and one each from Indiana, Tennessee, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Florida.Candidates in Washington and New Hampshire were also elected. Four candidates, in Florida, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, were incumbents.There were 26 known candidates who endorsed or gave credence to the conspiracy theory or promoted QAnon content. Multiple adherents to the conspiracy theory have been tied to acts of violence, including multiple murders and attempted kidnappings, and an FBI field office released a memo in May 2019 that listed QAnon as a potential domestic terrorism threat. The “Q” account’s claim - and the conspiracy theory’s premise - is that President Donald Trump was working with then-special counsel Robert Mueller to take down the president’s perceived enemies, the “deep state,” and pedophiles. (Beyond the QAnon conspiracy theory, 8chan/8kun has been linked to multiple instances of white supremacist terrorism, including the 2019 massacre in El Paso, Texas.) ![]() The conspiracy theory, which revolves around an anonymous account known as “Q,” started on far-right message board site 4chan and later moved to fellow far-right message board site 8chan, which has since relaunched as 8kun. These candidates were in addition to dozens of congressional candidates who had also embraced the conspiracy theory. Multiple supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which got its start on far-right message boards, ran for state legislatures around the country in 2020. Evidence still suggested the account was likely his, and reporting from Mainer has since confirmed it is him.Ĭorrection (11/23/20): This piece’s subheadline at the time incorrectly said 7 candidates were elected it was actually 4. After we published his entry, Ballotpedia removed the link to the social media account mentioned here as belonging to Redmond. Updates (last updated 7/13/21): This article has been repeatedly updated with more state legislative candidates and to note the status of the candidates following the primary and general elections.Įditor’s note (8/7/20 and 10/16/20): This article originally cited Ballotpedia in identifying a personal social media account for Brian Redmond.
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