Marjorie Taylor Greene wins Georgia's 14th district runoff
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From Marjorie Greene for Congress.
Gun-rights activist Marjorie Taylor Greene defeated physician John Cowan in a runoff election for the Republican nomination in Georgia's deep-red 14th Congressional District on Tuesday, AP reports.
Why it matters: Greene, a vocal QAnon conspiracy theorist who has been condemned by GOP leaders for making multiple offensive remarks about Black people, Jews and Muslims in Facebook videos, is likely to win a seat in the House come November.
- QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory that purports without proof that posts by an anonymous internet user from within the federal government are alluding to a secret war that the "deep state" is waging against President Trump.
- The FBI identified fringe conspiracy theories, like QAnon, as domestic terrorist threats in 2019, according to Yahoo News.
Context: Greene defended QAnon in a 30-minute video and claimed that Black people "are held slaves to the Democratic Party," in a Facebook video published by Politico.
- She also said Muslims should not serve in government, called George Soros a Nazi and claimed that the 2017 Las Vegas shooting was a targeted operation to help pass "anti-gun legislation." Soros is a Holocaust survivor.
House Republican leaders, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, criticized Greene for the videos after they surfaced.
- The No. 2 House Republican, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, helped Cowan raise money and contributed to his campaign.
What she's saying: "The GOP establishment, the media, & the radical left, spent months & millions of dollars attacking me," Greene tweeted Tuesday night. "Tonight the people of Georgia stood up & said that we will not be intimidated or believe those lies."
- In her victory speech, Greene criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying, "She’s a hypocrite. She’s anti-American. And we’re going to kick that b**** out of Congress," according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
What's next: Greene is one of almost a dozen GOP candidates who have openly supported or defended the QAnon movement or some of its tenets.
- Lauren Boebert, a Republican running for Colorado's 3rd Congressional District, is also likely to win a seat in the House in November.
Go deeper: QAnon's 2020 resurgence
