The Georgia Republican’s racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories put her on the party’s fringes, but she is likely to play a more central role in the next Congress.
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Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, once seen as on the fringes of the Republican Party, won a second term in Congress, where she is poised to play a more central role.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories put her on the fringes of the Republican Party when she was first elected two years ago, was re-elected on Tuesday and is poised to play a more central role in the next Congress. The race was called by The Associated Press.
Ms. Greene’s win in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District was never in question. The district is one of the most Republican in the country, and The Associated Press called the race for her over her Democratic opponent, Marcus Flowers, soon after the polls closed. But her growing status and clout, coupled with the likely election of similar candidates elsewhere in the country, reflects a broader transformation of the Republican Party.
When Ms. Greene won the party’s nomination in 2020, it caused consternation among mainstream Republicans who did not want to be associated with her promotion of the QAnon movement and other far-right conspiracy theories.
Among other things, she had suggested that the Sept. 11 attacks were a hoax; that wildfires had been caused by space lasers controlled by the Rothschilds, the banking family used as a metonym for Jews in antisemitic conspiracy theories; and that Democratic leaders should be executed.
But, after initially trying to ignore her, Republicans rallied around Ms. Greene when House Democrats stripped her committee assignments. In her primary this year, she easily defeated a more moderate Republican. Far from being a pariah, she is an increasingly influential player in the House Republican caucus.
In September, she stood directly behind Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, as he described the priorities of a future Republican majority.
Source: nytimes.com
