The Republican pool of fanatic 2020 primary winners got a little deeper on Tuesday, when far-right agitator Laura Loomer won the GOP contest for Florida’s 21st Congressional District, which encompasses Palm Beach.
Loomer might be best known for chaining herself to Twitter’s New York headquarters in 2018 to protest being banned for violating the platform’s hateful-conduct policy; her attempt to halt entry into the building was thwarted when she locked herself to just one of a pair of swinging doors. Ultimately, Loomer’s run for Congress this year is expected to be just as futile. The 21st, which encompasses Mar-a-Lago, is considered a safe-blue district and is represented by Lois Frankel, who has been in the House since 2012 and won her last contested election, in 2016, by 28 points. But Loomer’s win over a crowded field of political oddities shows how disjointed the right flank of the party is almost four years into the Trump presidency.
As the Washington Post noted, the race in south Florida featured an intriguing group of candidates: “The six people competing in the Aug. 18 primary include a former burlesque dancer and wild animal exhibitor who did business in the same circles as “Tiger King” Joe Exotic; a Palm Beach neighbor of Mar-a-Lago who is supported by QAnon believers; and Laura Loomer … There’s also an ex-cop, a nuclear engineer-turned college professor and a retired investigator for the IRS.”
On Tuesday, Loomer won with over 42 percent of the vote, meaning that the open Islamophobe and occasional Infowars contributor will now represent the Republican Party on the ballot — despite being banned from the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference for chasing journalists around the CPAC convention center.
The 27-year-old’s bid for Congress appears to be another attention-grabbing event in a short, but packed, career full of bigotry and misinformation. (Due largely to her habits of deriding Muslims and promoting false info, she has been banned from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Medium, PayPal, Venmo, GoFundMe, Uber, and Lyft.) But the GOP’s acceptance of the provocateur candidate shows the level to which the party has embraced the tactics and flare of its leader. Less than a week after President Trump and several House lawmakers welcomed into the GOP tent Georgia-14 candidate Marjorie Greene — a QAnon supporter and Islamophobe expected to win her deep-red district in November — Trump congratulated Loomer on her win. “Great going Laura,” the president tweeted on Tuesday night. “You have a great chance against a Pelosi puppet.”
