Update (7/2/20): The California Republican Party has removed its endorsement of Cargile from its website.
Writer and GOP-backed House candidate Mike Cargile has frequently posted bigoted content on Facebook, including writing a racist rant in which he used the n-word and told Black people to “quit blaming white folks for your problems. Take your black ass out there and show them kids there's a better way than husslin' on the street.”
Cargile has also shared memes which questioned whether Muslim members of Congress are working with terrorists; stated that “2 illegal aliens having an anchor baby does not produce an American”; and suggested that LGBTQ people are leading to the end of days. (Cargile has shared his personal Facebook page on his campaign’s Facebook page.)*
He is running in California’s 35th Congressional District against incumbent Democratic Rep. Norma Torres. Cargile states on his campaign website that he is “a writer, an actor, a director, a producer, an editor and a marketing director.” The California Republican Party has backed his congressional campaign and stated on Facebook in January that it is “proud to endorse” him.
Media Matters previously documented that Cargile is a QAnon conspiracy theorist who lists the QAnon slogan “#WWG1WGA” (“where we go one, we go all”) on his Twitter profile and has tweeted his support for QAnon. He has also claimed that the coronavirus outbreak is a “scamdemic” and “NOTHING compared to the diseases and plagues headed this way via the rats and the homeless”; and praised the lie-filled Plandemic video as “EXACTLY why I'm in this race!”
Over the years, Media Matters has documented examples of bigotry and extremism that have been shared on Facebook. Numerous companies have recently announced that they are suspending their advertising on Facebook due to hate being shared on that platform.
