How did extremism fare in the U.S. Senate elections?
The era of Donald Trump unleashed an onslaught of candidates for office who court hate and extremism.聽
Not all made it to the general election, but some races Tuesday featured candidates with open white supremacist, nativist and anti-LGBT ties.聽This is the first in a series exploring whether candidates with extremist ties won in elections across the U.S.
Here鈥檚 how those candidates fared with voters in races for seats in the U.S. Senate:
Winners
North Dakota
Kevin Cramer
Won with 55.4% of the votes
Kevin Cramer was elected to his first term in the U.S. Senate, beating incumbent Heidi Heitkamp. Cramer was endorsed by anti-LGBT group Public Advocate for the United States. Cramer 聽and received a 100 percent rating. The survey included questions like, 鈥淪hould public schools be 鈥榩revented from brainwashing elementary school children with the Homosexual Agenda?鈥�.鈥� Cramer has also appeared聽on the radio program of anti-LGBT hate group the Family Research Council. The show, Washington Watch, is hosted by FRC president Tony Perkins.
Tennessee
Marsha Blackburn
Won with 54.7% of votes
Marsha Blackburn was elected to her first term in the U.S. Senate. She previously represented Tennessee鈥檚 7th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Blackburn was listed as a 聽at the Restoration Conference hosted by anti-Muslim hate group David Horowitz Freedom Center. An aide for Blackburn said she didn鈥檛 attend the conference. Blackburn has 聽from anti-Muslim hate group Act for America. In 2017, Blackburn 聽Trump鈥檚 inauguration with Iowa Representative Steve King, who has well documented sympathies with racist ideas, and members of the Freedom Party of Austria, a political party founded by a former officer of the Nazi SS in the 1950s.
Texas
Ted Cruz
Won with 50.9% of votes
Ted Cruz was elected to his second term in the U.S. Senate. During his failed 2016 campaign for presidency, Cruz dog-whistled to the antigovernment extremist movement when he released an ad vowing to remove federal stewardship of all public lands in Nevada, the state where the Bundy family鈥檚 now infamous Bunkerville standoff聽took place. Cruz was widely supported by antigovernment extremists during his primary campaign, and in 2013 Cruz spoke at a Tea Party rally and was photographed 聽in front of an Oath Keepers flag. During his 2016 presidential bid, Cruz repeatedly courted anti-LGBT hate groups.
Missouri
Josh Hawley
Won with 51.5% of votes
Josh Hawley was elected to his first term in the U.S. Senate. Since 2017, Hawley has served as Missouri鈥檚 Attorney General. While a professor at the University of Missouri, Hawley 聽at a leadership conference hosted by hate group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). Since 2013, Hawley and his wife have 聽$8,700 from ADF.
Losers
Massachusetts
Shiva Ayyadurai
Lost with 3.4% of votes
Shiva Ayyadurai, who ran as an Independent, came in third in the Massachusetts Senate race behind winner and incumbent Elizabeth Warren and Republican Geoff Diehl. Ayyadurai聽 at the Boston Free Speech rally in 2017. The original list of speakers at that rally included Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights聽founder Kyle Chapman. This year, Ayyadurai was at an event put on by the聽Proud Boys that was also supposed to feature Chapman.聽Ayyadurai also 聽for his campaign featuring the word 鈥淕royper,鈥� a reference to an聽alt-right聽favorite meme derived from Pepe the Frog. In May, he that regularly features leaders in the racist "alt-right." On the same episode that featured Ayyadurai, neo-Nazi Patrick Little was also brought on for an interview.
Minnesota
Jim Newberger
Lost with 36.2% of the votes
Jim Newberger lost the race for Senate to incumbent Amy Klobuchar. Newberger has trafficked in anti-Muslim rhetoric, 聽he wants to stop refugees from entering Minnesota because the state could be put under Sharia law. He also warned that 鈥渘o go zones鈥� could be instituted in the state. 聽used to incite fear of American Muslims.
Mississippi
Danny Bedwell
Lost with 1.4% of the votes
Danny Bedwell came in third in the race for Mississippi Senate behind the winner, Republican Roger Wicker, and second-place Democrat David Baria. On the campaign trail, Bedwell deployed antigovernment rhetoric that accused the federal government of unlawful tyranny. He himself as a 鈥渃onstitutional scholar鈥� and said he was running for office to stop the government from infringing on the U.S. Constitution. He was by the Constitutional Grassroots Movement, which 聽the 鈥減lanned, intentional, and strategic transfer to the States or to the People, the responsibility of all powers and rights that the federal government has usurped and stolen.鈥�
Chris McDaniel
Lost in the so-called 鈥渏ungle primary鈥� with 16.4% of the votes
Chris McDaniel lost in the 聽and will not advance to the Nov. 27 runoff election for Senate in Mississippi. McDaniel, a former Mississippi state representative, has promoted a neo-Confederate hate group and has pushed the Lost Cause narrative. On the website of his former podcast, McDaniel lists neo-Confederate hate group League of the South as a . In August 2018, McDaniel spoke to the Citizens Militia of Mississippi, an antigovernment group, and defended Confederate general Robert E. Lee, saying liberals are .
Nevada
Kamaku Bakari
Lost with 0.7% of the votes
Kamaku Bakari came in sixth in the race for Nevada Senate, behind the winner, Democrat Jackey Rosen, runner-up Republican Dean Heller, no-party candidate Barry Michaels, Libertarian Tim Hagan, and the 1.6% of ballots marked with no candidate. The of Bakari鈥檚 website features a video showing him and antigovernment icon Cliven Bundy challenging former Attorney General Eric Holder to come to Nevada to talk about race. In the video, Bakari says Bundy is brave for being politically incorrect.
Ohio
Jim Renacci:
Lost with 46.8% of votes
Jim Renacci lost the race for Senate to incumbent Sherrod Brown. Renacci has 聽anti-immigrant hate group Federation for American Immigration Reform鈥檚 annual 鈥淗old their Feet to the Fire鈥� event, a yearly gathering of conservative talk radio hosts. Renacci has defended President Trump鈥檚 controversial and racist remarks about immigration, including his remarks about people coming from 鈥渟hithole countries.鈥� Renacci , 鈥淚've said all along the president many times says what people are thinking.鈥�
Pennsylvania
Lou Barletta
Lost with 42.8% of votes
Lou Barletta lost his bid for reelection to Democrat Bob Casey. Barletta has a long history of extreme views, rhetoric and policy. He 聽he vowed to make Hazelton, Pennsylvania, 鈥渢he toughest place on illegal immigrants in America.鈥� In 2006, as mayor of that city, he passed the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, saying, 鈥淎nd I will get rid of the illegal people. It鈥檚 this simple: They must leave.鈥� Even anti-immigrant hate group Federation for American Immigration Reform 聽the act was too broad. In 2006 Barletta also 聽with the American Free Press, a Holocaust-denying outlet founded by antisemite Willis Carto.
Utah
Tim Aalders
Lost with 2.7% of the vote
Tim Aalders came in third in the Utah Senate race behind the winner, Republican Mitt Romney, and runner-up Democrat Jenny Wilson. Aalders ran as a member of the Constitution Party 鈥� the most extreme far-right party in the U.S. The small third party has been around in one form or another since 1992. Its stated goal is 鈥渢o limit the federal government to its delegated, enumerated, Constitutional functions.鈥� In 2004 and 2008, the party ran antigovernment extremist聽Chuck Baldwin聽on its ticket, as a candidate for vice president and president, respectively.
Virginia
Corey Stewart
Lost with 41.2% of votes
Corey Stewart lost the election to incumbent Tim Kaine. Stewart previously served four terms on the Board of Supervisors in Prince William County, Virginia. Stewart took a hard line on Confederate monument preservation during his failed candidacy for governor in 2017. Members of the neo-Confederate hate group League of the South joined Stewart聽on the campaign trail. Stewart has ties to white nationalists, having made 聽with Jason Kessler, the white nationalist who organized the deadly 鈥淯nite the Right鈥� rally in Charlottesville. After the rally, during which an anti-racist demonstrator was killed, he chastised fellow Republicans for criticizing the white nationalists, saying violent people on the left 聽for the violence.
Photo illustration by 人兽性交
