The polls have closed and America is still counting up the winners of election night. But as officials continue to process ballots to see who will be president, a number of individuals who have openly flirted with conspiracy theories, racism, sexual abuse and even violence are celebrating victories.
Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia (Republican)
Greene, who is very far-right, will be seated in the 117th Congress. Linked to white supremacists and anti-government militias, she has made racist, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic comments on Facebook.
Greene cruised to victory in the general election, essentially running unopposed in Georgia’s heavily white, Republican and gerrymandered 14th District after her followers terrified her opponent into dropping out of the race.
The wealthy gun-toting Greene, who co-owns a construction company started by her father, received endorsements from ultraconservative Trump-aligned members of Congress. She was also embraced by Donald Trump and took money from a political action committee connected to his chief of staff Mark Meadows.
She promoted her campaign by posting pictures of herself online holding an assault weapon, in one instance next to photos of Democrats Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Facebook considered the post an incitement to violence and took it down. Greene also talked about socialists and “cultural Marxists” tearing America apart. She said Black people should look at Confederate monuments as symbols of progress. She called George Soros, who is a Jewish Holocaust survivor, a Nazi collaborator. In more recent videos and posts, she has attacked everything from the Black Lives Matter movement to the use of facemasks to protect against the coronavirus.
But it was her devotion to the amorphous ever-mutating glob of conspiracy theories known as QAnon, which Greene embraced in 2017, that received the most attention. QAnon is based on the belief that a prophetic government official known only as “Q” has inside knowledge about a secret “deep state” plot against Trump, who is revered as a god-like figure waging a holy war against his enemies.
Lauren Boebert of Colorado (Republican)
Boebert, a restaurateur and gun rights advocate, appeared on two online shows hosted by QAnon supporters and said that she was “very familiar” with the conspiracy movement and that she hoped it “is real.” If it is, she said, “then it can be really great for our country.”
Boebert closely allied herself to Trump, attacking Democrats on everything from what she called job-killing proposals on fossil fuels to coronavirus restrictions to unrest in Democratic-led cities.
She pledged to protect gun rights and appeared at her rallies with a Glock pistol strapped to her hip.
Aaron Coleman of Kansas (Democrat)
A 20-year-old Democratic candidate who admitted circulating nude images of a schoolgirl ran uncontested in Kansas House District 37, garnering 3,496 votes.
He declared his success in a Facebook post on Tuesday night, calling it a “victory for the working class”.
Multiple women have publicly accused Coleman of abusive behaviour, NBC reports.
In August, Coleman was asked about a newspaper report which said he obtained a nude picture of a girl and threatened to distribute it if she did not send further images. When she didn’t, he did so. When asked about the incident, Coleman told AP news: “They’re accurate.”
Coleman ran a liberal platform that included universal health coverage, eliminating college tuition, defunding the police and legalising marijuana. But he received more attention for a social media post suggesting he would “laugh and giggle” if a former GOP state lawmaker died of Covid-19, another post endorsing abortion up to the moment of birth and a third acknowledging that allegations that he engaged in online bullying, blackmail and revenge porn were true. He apologised for the comments and said his past behaviour targeting several middle-school girls was that of “a sick and troubled” 14-year-old.
Greg Gianforte of Montana (Republican)
Republican Greg Gianforte has won the race to become Montana’s next governor.
Gianforte, who serves as Montana’s lone member of the US House, defeated Democrat Mike Cooney.
The seat was up for grabs as Democratic governor Steve Bullock was termed out and instead ran for the US Senate.
Gianforte, 59, was endorsed by Trump and known for body-slamming a reporter in 2017. He will be Montana’s first Republican governor in 16 years.
One of the wealthiest members of Congress, Gianforte touted his business experience, which includes founding a start-up technology company in his hometown of Bozeman that was eventually sold for almost $2 billion.