The Mesa Pastor Who Inspired QAnon Promoter Ron Watkins' Run For Congress
If QAnon’s grip on the Arizona GOP wasn’t clear already, Ron Watkins made it so last week, when the Q figurehead announced that he is running for Congress in Arizona.
Watkins’ candidacy is far-fetched, to put it lightly; although he’s built a major following online, he has never held any kind of elected office, and it’s not clear if he’s ever lived in the state. But his campaign does appear to draw on local inspiration — from Jeff Durbin, an extremist pastor in Mesa who has built his church into a sprawling media organization and national anti-abortion lobbying group.
In Watkins’ initial video announcing his bid to unseat Democrat Tom O'Halleran (“the dirtiest Democrat in the D.C. swamp,” Watkins said), he cited a recent sermon that Durbin gave at Apologia Church in Mesa.
Durbin convinced him, Watkins said, “to double down with God as my compass to take this fight to the swamp of Washington D.C.”
Read more: https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/qanon-ringleader-ron-watkins-congress-jeff-durbin-mesa-arizona-12249888