GOP lawmaker speaks out against QAnon supporters on ballot
With the news that at least a half dozen GOP state legislative candidates have expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory, one senior Republican lawmaker issued a full-throated call for their endorsements to be rescinded.
State Rep. Patrick Garofalo, R-Farmington, in a post on Twitter, called QAnon “a crackpot conspiracy group that has zero legitimacy.”
“Any candidate for office who supports or advocates QAnon nonsense is unqualified to be an elected official,” he wrote. “The Republican Party should rescind the endorsement of any candidate who supports QAnon poison.”
Yet it remains unclear if the Minnesota Republican Party will take any action. The party has not responded to requests for comment or publicly addressed the report. Other Republican leaders in the state are appearing to let Garofalo’s statement speak for itself. Some Republican strategists suggest that the QAnon-linked candidates have emerged in Minnesota races the GOP has little chance of winning and that the issue is being ginned up by the media.
Still, addressing QAnon before the 2020 election poses a unique challenge: Any reports on conspiracy theories or other examples of extremist movements risk further spreading their narratives. But it is undeniable that QAnon’s adherents are inching closer into the GOP mainstream. In 2018, QAnon supporters were occasional sightings at political rallies. Now, they are beginning to appear on ballots. Scores of congressional and state-level candidates for office around the country have expressed varying degrees of support for a movement that the FBI has warned could inspire domestic terrorism or violence.
https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-gop-lawmaker-speaks-out-against-qanon-supporters-on-ballot/572549881/
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