Ron
Watkins, a person closely tied to the QAnon movement and a prolific promoter of
Donald Trump’s narrative about the 2020 election, has announced his bid for
Congress as a Republican in Arizona.

Watkins has
created a large and fervent following among Donald Trump supporters who believe
the former president’s claims that he lost the election because of fraud. His
candidacy could shake up the race in one of the GOP’s top congressional pickup
targets.

Watkins filed
papers with the Arizona secretary of state and later posted a video on Telegram
repeating his claim that the election was stolen from Trump.

“We
must now take this fight to Washington, DC, and vote out all the dirty
Democrats who have stolen our republic. We must fix our elections from inside
the machine,” Watkins says in the video.

In the days before his announcement, he posted photos of himself with
Republicans Kari Lake, a former television anchor running for governor with
Trump’s endorsement, and Tom Horne, a former attorney general and state schools
superintendent running again to lead the Education Department. He endorsed both
candidates.

Watkins was
the longtime administrator of 8kun and its predecessor, 8chan, online message
boards that were known for misinformation and hate speech, and which played a
crucial role in seeding the QAnon conspiracy movement. He has said he gave up
the role last year.

A core
belief for QAnon followers is that Trump was secretly fighting a
Satan-worshipping, child sex-trafficking cabal of prominent Democrats,
Hollywood elites and “deep state” enemies. An internet poster calling
himself Q fueled the movement by allegedly posting clues about Trump’s effort,
many on the 8kun message board.

Many
believe Watkins himself is responsible for the messages purportedly posted by
Q. He denies it.

Incumbent
Democrat Tom O’Halleran is a former Republican and a retired police officer
serving his third term.