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PHOENIX: Ron Watkins, a prolific promoter of false conspiracies concerning the 2020 election who’s intently tied to the QAnon motion, says he’s operating for Congress as a Republican in Arizona.
Watkins has a big and fervent following amongst Donald Trump supporters who consider the previous president’s false claims that he misplaced the election due to fraud. His candidacy may shake up the race in one of many GOP’s high congressional pickup targets.
Watkins filed papers with the Arizona secretary of state this week and later posted a video on Telegram repeating his declare that the election was stolen from Trump.
We should now take this struggle to Washington, D.C., and vote out all of the soiled Democrats who’ve stolen our republic, Watkins says within the video, taped exterior the workplaces of Arizona Lawyer Common Mark Brnovich, whom Watkins is pressuring to indict folks over the 2020 election. We should repair our elections from contained in the machine.
It’s not clear whether or not Watkins at present lives in Arizona or its 1st Congressional District. Within the days earlier than his announcement, he posted images of himself with Republicans Kari Lake, a former tv anchor operating for governor with Trump’s endorsement, and Tom Horne, a former lawyer common and state colleges superintendent operating once more to steer the Schooling Division. He endorsed each candidates.
Watkins didn’t reply the telephone and didn’t reply to textual content messages and emails despatched to the contact info on the assertion of curiosity he filed with Arizona election officers.
Watkins was the longtime administrator of 8kun and its predecessor, 8chan, on-line message boards that have been identified for misinformation and hate speech, and which performed a vital function in seeding the QAnon conspiracy motion. He has mentioned he gave up the function final 12 months.
A core perception for QAnon followers is that Trump was secretly preventing a Devil-worshipping, youngster sex-trafficking cabal of distinguished Democrats, Hollywood elites and deep state enemies. An web poster calling himself Q fueled the motion by allegedly posting clues about Trump’s effort, many on the 8kun message board.
Many consider Watkins himself is answerable for the messages purportedly posted by Q. He denies it.
Arizona’s 1st District, one spanning huge swaths of rural northern and japanese parts of the state, is a high pickup goal for Republicans. The boundaries are nonetheless being drawn by the state’s impartial redistricting fee, nevertheless it’s extensively believed the district can be one of many state’s best.
Incumbent Democrat Tom O’Halleran is a former Republican and a retired police officer serving his third time period.
Disclaimer: This publish has been auto-published from an company feed with none modifications to the textual content and has not been reviewed by an editor
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