Republican candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene, a professed believer in the fringe conspiracy-theorist group known as QAnon, is probably headed to Congress after her strong finish in the Georgia primary.
House Republican leaders were silent Thursday about the likelihood that their caucus may soon include someone affiliated with a group that the FBI has flagged as a potential domestic terrorist threat.
None of the top three House Republicans, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Minority Whip Steve Scalise (La.) or Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (Wyo.), responded to questions about Greene’s candidacy and possible place within their ranks.
Greene finished first in Tuesday’s primary with 41 percent of the vote in the strongly Republican district in northwest Georgia but was shy of the majority of the vote. She will face a runoff Aug. 11 against physician John Cowan, who trailed her by 20 percentage points.
As long as Greene’s support holds and she wins that race, she should easily win the House seat in November and replace retiring Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.). In 2016, Georgia’s 14th Congressional District elected Donald Trump with 75 percent of the vote.
Greene would become the first member of Congress to have publicly espoused the views of QAnon, the extremist group that believes President Trump is quietly leading a revolution against the “deep state.” It maintains a baseless conspiracy theory that there is a secret pedophile operation run by the nation’s most prominent people, particularly those within the Democratic Party.
“The Chinese propagandists at the Washington Post are attacking me the same way they attack Donald Trump, and other conservatives,” Greene said in an emailed statement. “Northwest Georgians are proud, conservative America-loving patriots. ... I won’t let them be bullied by the hate America leftists at the Washington Post.”
Greene’s campaign did not answer questions about her support for QAnon, but in a lengthy response attacked Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).
Greene has posted videos lifting QAnon conspiracy theories and praising its anonymous leader, “Q.”
“Q is a patriot. He is someone that very much loves his country, and he’s on the same page as us, and he is very pro-Trump,” she said in a 2017 video
posted to YouTube. In the video, she talks about an “awakening” that will expose deep corruption and unite Americans behind Trump.
“I’m very excited about that now there’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take this global cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles out, and I think we have the president to do it,” she said.
Trump has never specifically referenced his QAnon supporters but has over the years elevated their tweets and slogans. Supporters have attended his rallies holding signs and wearing shirts with QAnon symbols.
In Oregon last month, Republicans elected a U.S. Senate nominee who believes in QAnon. Jo Rae Perkins bested three other candidates to win the Republican nomination to face Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) in November.
In a now-deleted video posted to her Twitter account, Perkins said she supports the conspiracy theory, which revolves around “Q,” an anonymous Internet user claiming to be a government agent with top security clearance.
Believer in QAnon conspiracy theory wins Republican Senate nomination in Oregon
Greene is listed on the
Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Hatewatch,” where she is described by the group as “an avid MAGA activist who frequently attends rallies or participates in protests that aim to vilify the federal government, American Muslims and transgender people.”
Greene was pictured with and endorsed by a Georgia man with longtime ties to white-supremacist groups, who called her a “friend” and “part of the Q movement,”
according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Greene dismissed an Atlanta reporter’s questions about that relationship, calling them “silly and the same type of sleazy attacks the Fake News Media levels against President Trump.”
Last week, Greene posted a campaign ad in which she cocks an AR-15 rifle and warns “Antifa” protesters to “stay the hell out of northwest Georgia.”
“You won’t burn our churches, loot our businesses or destroy our homes,” Greene said in the ad that was later removed by Facebook for violating its rules against inciting violence.
A devout Trump supporter, Greene’s campaign logo is a knockoff of Trump’s, and her website includes a photo of her posed between Trump’s sons, Donald Jr. and Eric.
Chris Pack, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, did not directly respond to questions about Greene.
“The NRCC does not get involved in primaries. In general elections, we focus on districts that will deliver us the majority, not R+27 safe seats,” Pack said in an email.
But Greene, who raised $1.1 million for her primary run, has received some high-profile support from some of Trump’s closest congressional allies. Greene claims to have the endorsement of Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). She received $75,000 from the House Freedom Fund, a political action committee associated with former congressman Mark Meadows before he became Trump’s chief of staff.
Neither Jordan nor Gaetz responded to requests for comment.
