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babylonsister

(171,070 posts) Wed Nov 3, 2021, 09:52 PM Nov 2021

More Than Half a Dozen "Stop the Steal" Attendees Were Elected to Public Office Last Night

Levin Report
More Than Half a Dozen “Stop the Steal” Attendees Were Elected to Public Office Last Night
You know, one that preceded the attack on the Capitol that left numerous people dead.
By Bess Levin
November 3, 2021

As you’ve probably heard by now, Tuesday did not go very well for Democrats. In Virginia, a guy who closed his campaign by suggesting he’ll ban Toni Morrison books was elected to serve as governor. In New Jersey, incumbent Phil Murphy eked out a victory, but the numbers were way too close for comfort in a state that Joe Biden won by 16 points. On Long Island, Democrats were hit with “staggering losses up and down the ballot.” Oh, and more than half a dozen people who attended Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally, the one that preceded the attack on the Capitol that left four people dead, were elected to public office.

HuffPost reports that at least eight Republicans who attended the January 6 rally in D.C. won local and state legislature races. While most of last night’s winners claim they didn’t take part in the actual insurrection, just the event that came before it, they all happily gathered to support the then president as he made baseless, outrageous claims that inspired hundreds of people to try and violently overturn the election. As a reminder, it was at that rally where Trump told his supporters, among other things:

“All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats, which is what they're doing. And stolen by the fake news media. That’s what they’ve done and what they're doing. We will never give up, we will never concede. It doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved.”
“Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore and that’s what this is all about. And to use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with: We will stop the steal.”
“I’ve been in two elections. I won them both and the second one, I won much bigger than the first.“
“Get your people to fight.”
“If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
“And Mike Pence, I hope you’re going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country. And if you’re not, I’m going to be very disappointed in you. I will tell you right now. I’m not hearing good stories.”
“So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I love Pennsylvania Avenue. And we’re going to the Capitol.”

Who are these people, now in terrifying positions of power? Per HuffPost:

Among the Jan. 6 attendees who won office on Tuesday were two Republicans reelected to the Virginia House of Delegates: Dave LaRock and John McGuire. Earlier this year LaRock, responding to criticism from a Black elected official about his role in the insurrection, said the official should focus on “the needs of the colored community.” (He later apologized for the comment.) McGuire won his seat despite his Democratic opponent unearthing a photo showing him standing near men in paramilitary gear confronting police on Jan. 6. McGuire had previously claimed he hadn’t heard of the violence at the U.S. Capitol until returning home. The news, he said, had “shocked and horrified” him.

Marie March, a restaurant owner who bragged in a campaign advertisement about her attendance at the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally and who in a since-deleted Facebook post warned of a “coming Civil War” in which she would be willing to “fight and die” for both her “family” and “small businesses,” also won a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates on Tuesday.

more...

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/11/stop-the-steal-gop-attendees-elected