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Lauren Witzke

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Lauren Witzke
Born (1988-02-09) February 9, 1988 (age 36)
Delmar, Delaware, U.S.
Alma materGoldey-Beacom College (BBA)
Political partyRepublican
MovementPaleoconservatism
Far-right
Flat Earth
Qanon
Homophobia
Transphobia

Lauren Elena Witzke (born February 9, 1988) is an American far-right anti-gay and anti-transgender activist, conspiracy theorist, QAnon supporter, anti-immigrant, former TV show host on TruNews.[1] A member of the Republican Party, Witzke was the Republican nominee for the 2020 United States Senate election in Delaware, but lost by 20 points.

Early life and education

Lauren Witzke was born on February 9, 1988, in Delmar, Delaware. She attended Goldey-Beacom College where she earned a BBA in business management.[2]

Career

2020 Senate election

Main article: 2020 United States Senate election in Delaware

On September 16, 2020, Witzke won the Republican primary with 57% of the vote, defeating attorney and former Marine James DeMartino. Witzke said that her opponent was a "RINO", an acronym for 'Republican in name only' frequently used by pro-Trump Republicans. Her candidacy was not endorsed by the Delaware state Republican Party who had instead decided to endorse DeMartino.[3] Witzke's Senate campaign was endorsed by white nationalist Nick Fuentes who had marched in the August 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville.[4] Witzke accepted Fuentes' endorsement with the response of "Thank you, Nick!".[5] During the general election campaign, Witzke claimed without evidence that Hunter Biden's laptop contained illicit images of "Chris Coons' daughter in addition to seven other underaged girls". PolitiFact rated the claim to be "false".[6]

In the November general election, Witzke was defeated by incumbent Senator Chris Coons by over 20 points.[7]

Media work

After right-wing radio host and conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles was hospitalized with COVID-19 in mid-2021, his organization TruNews announced that Witzke would be filling in for him as co-host of the program.[8] After Wiles returned, Witzke was hired as a permanent co-host of his show. As of September 6, 2021, Witzke was let go from TruNews.[9] Wiles had previously claimed that the COVID-19 vaccine was being used to commit a "genocide".[10]

Political positions

Abortion

Witzke opposes abortion and supports overturning the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. Upon the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September 2020, Witzke said that "Ruth Bader Ginsberg's obsession with abortion overtly singled out blacks and minorities for extermination”.[11] Witzke also attacked her Democratic opponent Chris Coons for being a “Christian-hating baby killer”.[12]

Black Lives Matter

Witzke has described Black Lives Matter as "violent terrorists" who want to "stoke societal unrest, and literally already has blood on their hands".[13]

Far-right politics

Witzke is open about her far-right politics and has recommended that people read Pat Buchanan's 2001 book The Death of the West to understand her political philosophy. In the book, Buchanan argues that, due to high rates of immigration, the United States has a "nation within a nation". Witzke has appeared on VDARE, a website that the Anti-Defamation League has called a "xenophobic website" and the Southern Poverty Law Center a website that "regularly publishes articles by prominent white nationalists, race scientists and anti-Semites".[14] Witzke tweeted out her interview with VDARE, writing, "In order to preserve America, we must first preserve American families, our values, and our culture."[15]

In October 2020, Witzke defended the far-right organization the Proud Boys and said at one point that the Proud Boys exemplified "patriotic masculinity" and thanked the group for providing security at her campaign rallies.[16][13]

Immigration

Witzke has supported a complete ban on all immigration to the United States for ten years.[17][14] She has also stated that "nationalist populism is the future".[18]

LGBTQ community

In March 2021, Witzke responded to a tweet from Richard Grenell about a trans woman who had attended CPAC by claiming that transgender people are "mentally ill" and "demonic".[19] She also iterated her opposition to both same-sex marriage and gay conservatives being welcomed into the Republican Party.[20][21]

While speaking on an online panel on the post-Trump future of the Republican Party in March 2021, Witzke attacked conservative trans woman Blaire White, saying, "The best thing you can do for us is grow out your moustache and tell people not to live like you." On the same panel, Witzke also espoused the unsubstantiated belief that trans people are sexual predators and pedophiles.[12]

In the same month, she quote-tweeted a quote by non-binary activist Alok Vaid-Menon calling it "Demonic", in which the latter had said that "little girls are kinky"[note 1]. Witzke's tweet was removed and her Twitter account was suspended for "hateful content".[22]

QAnon

Witzke has voiced support for the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon which posits the disproven belief that a satanist cabal of Democratic politicians and Hollywood celebrities are engaging in acts of paedophilia and child abuse so they can extract the blood of children to extend their life.[17]

Personal life

Witzke has spoken about her addiction to opioids.[18] To support her addiction, Witzke has claimed to have worked for Mexican drug cartels or “cartel families” as a “low-end drug-runner” or drug dealer transporting drugs between Detroit and Tennessee.[5] In August 2017, Witzke was arrested in Tennessee on a series of charges including violating both heroin and methamphetamine laws, driving under the influence, resisting arrest, and introduction of contraband into a penal facility.[5]

Witzke has maintained that COVID-19 is Satanic and that COVID-19 vaccine is a Satanic plot to cause mass death. In late October 2021 Witzke stated she is recovering from COVID.[23]

Electoral history

Republican primary results, 2020[24]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Lauren Witzke 30,702 56.89%
Republican James DeMartino 23,266 43.11%
Total votes 53,968 100.00%
United States Senate election in Delaware, 2020[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Chris Coons (incumbent) 291,804 59.44% +3.61%
Republican Lauren Witzke 186,054 37.90% −4.33%
Independent Party Mark Turley 7,833 1.59% N/A
Libertarian Nadine Frost 5,244 1.07% N/A
Total votes 490,935 100.0%
Democratic hold

Notes

  1. ^ This quote was taken from a post Alok had made in 2016 on the Facebook page of DarkMatter, an art and activist collaboration between Vaid-Menon and Janani Balasubramanian: "While the face/identity of the alleged perpetrators have changed, the supposed purity of the "victims" has remained quite stagnant. These days the narrative is that freaky transgender people (or as they say "crossdressers") will come into your bathrooms and abuse innocent little girls. (...) I believe in the radical notion that little girls, like the rest of us, are complicated people. There are no fairy tales and no princesses here. Little girls are also queer, trans, kinky, deviant, kind, mean, beautiful, ugly, tremendous, and peculiar." [web 1]

References

  1. ^ *Chase, Randall (September 17, 2020). "Republican nominee for US Senate in Delaware has repeatedly promoted QAnon". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
    • Spocchia, Gino (September 16, 2020). "Second QAnon supporter wins Republican Senate primary". The Independent. Retrieved March 21, 2021. Ms Witzke is among several controversial candidates with ties to far-right conspiracy thinking, including businesswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who won a Republican primary in Georgia despite her support for QAnon.
  2. ^ "Lauren Witzke". Ballotpedia. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  3. ^ Chase, Randall. "Newcomer Witzke wins GOP US Senate primary in Delaware". Associated Press. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  4. ^ Associated Press and Haaretz (September 18, 2020). "Delaware GOP Primary Winner Linked to QAnon, White Nationalist Nick Fuentes". Haaretz. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c Sommer, Will (September 16, 2020). "New QAnon-Allied GOP Senate Candidate Also Pushed Anti-Semitism, Flat Earthism, and 9/11 Conspiracies". The Daily Beast. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  6. ^ Funke, Daniel (October 26, 2020). ""The daughter of Sen. Coons (D-DE), along with 7 other underaged girls are featured on Hunter's laptop! - Breitbart News"". PolitiFact. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  7. ^ a b "2020 General Election Report". Delaware Department of Elections. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  8. ^ Mantyla, Kyle (June 1, 2021). "Anti-Vax COVID-19 Conspiracy Theorist Rick Wiles Hospitalized With COVID-19". Right Wing Watch. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  9. ^ "Lauren Witzke ☦️🇺🇸". tlgrm.eu. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
  10. ^ Kilander, Gustaf (June 1, 2021). "Anti-vaxxer hospitalised with Covid after saying vaccines would wipe out 'stupid people'". The Independent. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  11. ^ Naughtie, Andrew (September 29, 2020). "QAnon-linked Senate candidate under fire for 'vile and racist attacks' on RBG". The Independent. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  12. ^ a b Baska, Maggie (March 16, 2021). "Trans Republican hit with disgusting transphobia by fellow conservative in 'painful' exchange". Pink News. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  13. ^ a b Parra, Esteban; Horn, Brittany (October 1, 2020). "Delaware US Senate candidate thanks Proud Boys for providing free security at rally". Delaware Online. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  14. ^ a b Barrish, Cris (September 22, 2020). "Del. Senate candidate Witzke retweets support from group with 'white nationalist' ties". WHYY. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
  15. ^ Sales, Ben (October 6, 2020). "Delaware's GOP Senate candidate appears on site linked to white supremacists". The Times of Israel. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
  16. ^ Castronuovo, Celine (October 1, 2020). "GOP Senate candidate Lauren Witzke defends 'patriotic masculinity' of Proud Boys". The Hill. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  17. ^ a b Spocchia, Gino (September 16, 2020). "Second QAnon supporter wins Republican Senate primary". The Independent. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  18. ^ a b Williamson, Elizabeth (October 4, 2020). "In Biden's Home State, Republican Centrism Gives Way to the Fringe". The New York Times. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  19. ^ Chapman, Matthew (March 1, 2021). "Former Trump spy chief hits back after failed GOP Senate candidate attacks LGBTQ rights". Raw Story. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  20. ^ Holmes, Juwan J. (March 1, 2021). "Ric Grenell shared a trans woman's CPAC experience. Conservatives have been blasting him since then". LGBTQ Nation. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  21. ^ Baska, Maggie (March 2, 2021). "Trump sycophant Richard Grenell bombarded with Republican transphobia after sharing trans woman's CPAC experience". Pink News. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  22. ^ olumorocktv (March 8, 2021). "Ex-US Senate candidate Witzke banned from Twitter". Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  23. ^ Davis, Charles (October 21, 2021). "'I've lost my joy': Anti-vax Republican, who worked for the Trump campaign and embraced QAnon, says she has COVID-19". Business Insider. Australia India Yahoo UK
  24. ^ "2020 State Primary Election Report". Delaware.gov. Retrieved September 17, 2020.


Sources

Web-sources

  1. ^ the Data Lounge, Homophobic trans musical group DARKMATTER publishes insane diatribe on the matter of trans women and little girls in bathrooms

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lauren_Witzke&oldid=1056222743"