A primary runoff in Georgia this week will be the latest test of voters’ willingness to support a candidate involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In the Peach State’s 2nd Congressional District, Chuck Hand — who was convicted of a misdemeanor for illegally demonstrating inside the Capitol that day — faces Wayne Johnson in the Republican primary for Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop’s seat.
Hand is one of several names linked to January 6th who intend to be voted on at the Capitol more than three years after it was invaded by protesters. In West Virginia, Derrick Evans, who was arrested for participating in the insurrection, lost his remote bid for a House seat last month – as did Ryan Zink, who filmed himself on restricted Capitol grounds in Texas.
The Georgia race will serve as yet another check on how willing Republicans are to embrace those involved on January 6, as former President Trump praises the “J6 warriors” throughout the campaign.
“Being convicted of a crime, being part of the Jan. 6 riot … that would have been impossible for a candidate 20 years ago,” said Ben Taylor, a political science professor at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.
But today, sharp political polarization, a tense media landscape and an unprecedented presidential race at the top of the ticket mean that baggage that could have been a “campaign finisher” just a few cycles ago “becomes boons for candidates who would otherwise They would have died in the water,” Taylor said.
“When you enter this ecosystem, you run into situations where you can get people who were part of January 6th to potentially be elected to Congress.”
Handpleaded guiltyin 2022, to illegal demonstrations inside the Capitol when protesters stormed the grounds amid the certification of the 2020 presidential election, according to Justice Department documents. He was sentenced to 20 days in prison.
Hand, who serves as vice chair of the Taylor Country Republican Party, emerged from last month’s Republican primary in Georgia with 32% of the vote.
His rival Johnson won 45 percent, just below the majority mark needed to avoid a top-two runoff. Third place candidate Michael Nixon got about 19 percent and walked out of the ring with a blunt statement calling questions Hand’s claims that he was peacefully protesting on January 6th.
Johnson, a former Trump administration official, heads into next week with a lead over Hand, and the GOP winner will have an uphill battle to unseat longtime Bishop in the historically blue district in November — but Hand’s primary support still remains stands out as a sign that some in the party are not discouraged by the January 6 conviction.
“That 2nd District candidate — on some level, I think, for some of those voters, having been involved in January 6th is probably a feature, not a bug for them,” Taylor said.
Republican strategist Ford O’Connell, who worked as Trump’s White House surrogate and 2020 campaign surrogate, said “a good portion” of the Republican base has lingering concerns about the 2020 race and some candidates may be “using that as an impetus to try to launch their political careers.”
A majority of Americans in a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll earlier this year said the riots were an “attack on democracy that should never be forgotten,” but 43 percent said “too much is being done” with the riot. and that it is “time to move on.”
This poll also revealed that the percentage of Republicans who consider Trump to be responsible for the incident has decreased, from 27% in 2021 to 14% this year.
CBS News polls also found that Republican approval of the protesters’ actions is rising, rising from 21 percent then to 30 percent this year.
Trump is “the most essential and central aspect of all of this,” Pete Simi, a professor at Chapman University who studies political violence and extremism, said of efforts to “reframe” Jan. 6 as a “more conventional political protest.” than an attack that left 140 police officers police officers attacked It is five dead in the days after the attack.
“[Trump’s] the 2024 candidacy is largely the embodiment of this effort. Because if it is not an immediate disqualifier from running for president, then it obviously would not be a disqualifier from running for other lower levels of public office,” Simi said.
The former president, who also faces federal criminal charges related to his actions around Jan. 6, is praising his supporters who participated in the riots as he campaigns to return to the White House.
“Those J6 warriors — they were warriors — but in fact, more than anything else, they are victims of what happened,” Trump said at a rally in Nevada last week.
“All they were doing was protesting a fraudulent election. That’s what they were doing,” the former president said, praising his debunked claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
Trump, who was convicted of falsifying business records in New York, has long viewed his legal troubles as politically motivated, and that may be leading his supporters to dismiss the January 6 charges, experts have suggested.
“The convictions are just more proof of what the conspiracy theories tell us, right?” Simi spoke about the thoughts of some voters. “Conspiracy theories tell us that there is a deep state that is looking for real Americans… and so what better evidence of this deep state can there be than Trump being convicted in New York or the January 6th being convicted?”
A Republican strategist said Trump’s convicted felon status could make unsavory charges on other candidates’ records look like “parking tickets.”
Still, while candidates tied to January 6 may be doing better than expected, they have yet to score big wins in 2024.
In West Virginia, Evans, who pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of civil disorder, obtained the endorsement of Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good (R-Va.) and pulled 37 percent of the GOP primary vote last month, but he failed to unseat Rep. Carol Miller (RW.Va.) in the 1st Congressional District.
In Texas, Zink, who was found guilty of three felonies and two misdemeanors related to January 6th, came with a digit in the primary for Rep. Jodey Arrington’s (R-Texas) 19th Congressional District seat.
“I think this has two meanings. One of them is: it’s shocking, in many ways, that they’re getting the support that they do,” Simi said.
“But the fact that they are not as successful and that support is relatively limited is good news.”
In New York, Phillip Sean Grillo wasfound guiltyof criminal obstruction of an official proceeding and other charges while running for the seat of former congressman George Santos (RN.Y.).
Jason Riddle, who pleaded guilty by January 6, ran unsuccessfully for Rep. Annie Kuster’s (D) New Hampshire seat in 2022 and filed try again this year.
“There are a number of people across the country and in Georgia who felt it wasn’t an insurrection, even though I clearly think it really was. …There’s a lot of anger,” said Fred Hicks, a Georgia-based Democratic strategist.
Next week, Hand’s Georgia runoff will be around Jan. 6, but it will also be “a test of loyalty to Donald Trump and how much that influences you in Georgia,” Hicks said. “And the jury is out on that.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
