QAnon supporter could become Republican candidate in tight Georgia race
Marjorie Taylor Greene could replace retiring incumbent Tom Graves as the Republican candidate in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, despite having a history of bigoted remarks and publicly supporting the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Ms Greene is running against neurosurgeon John Cowan to be selected as the Republican candidate in the 14th District for November’s election, with the primary runoff taking place on Tuesday.
In the June primary, Ms Greene secured 40.3 per cent of the vote, compared to Dr Cowan’s 21 per cent, but a recent survey from the latter’s team showed both candidates on 38 per cent.
The 14th Congressional District is considered to be a safe Republican seat, as multiple nonpartisan political forecasters have classified it as “solid or safe Republican,” The Hill reported.
However, Ms Greene’s campaign has been marred by controversy, after hours of videos she uploaded to Facebook that showed her making offensive comments were uncovered by Politico in June.
The Republican candidate uploaded footage of herself making a number of racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic remarks, such as claiming that African Americans are “slaves to the Democratic Party”.
She also suggested that Muslims should not work in government and made anti-Semitic comments, claiming that Democratic donor George Soros, who is subject to numerous anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, is a Nazi.
In other videos, Ms Greene claimed that Muslims want special treatment in the US and warned that there is “an Islamic invasion into our government offices right now”.
She has also embraced the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, whose movement has been identified by the FBI as an extremist group, and whose followers claim a deep state is plotting against president Donald Trump.
If Ms Greene secures the Republican nomination on Tuesday and wins the election in November, she will be the first elected official to have shown support for the movement, according to The Hill.
“If she ends up winning, it’s more of a reflection of John Cowan’s bad campaign than it is of her being a much better candidate,” a Georgia-based Republican strategist told The Hill. “I don’t know how he could not have put her away already.”
The strategist added: “He’s a doctor. Don’t underestimate being a doctor in a pandemic — that’s a big deal. And the fact is, he was only able to generate 20 per cent of the vote.”
After the footage obtained by Politico was published in June, various Republican officials in Georgia condemned Ms Greene’s comments.
Drew Florio, a spokesman for Republican House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, told Politico: “These comments are appalling, and Leader McCarthy has no tolerance for them.”
The comment was echoed by Republican House minority whip Steve Scalise, who released a statement saying he would support Dr Cowan in the primary runoff.
“The comments made by Ms Greene are disgusting and don’t reflect the values of equality and decency that make our country great,” Mr Scalise said. “I will be supporting Dr Cowan.”
Her opponent in the primary also condemned her views, saying: “These comments do not reflect the views of the people of the 14th District.”
Dr Cowan added: “I think she would embarrass our state, and I’m going to do everything I can to keep her from representing northwest Georgia in Congress.”
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Republican candidate caught making racist and Islamophobic remarks
