The National Rifle Association released its list of candidate ratings and endorsements for the 2020 elections, endorsing two congressional candidates who support the dangerous QAnon conspiracy theory: Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert. 

On September 3, the NRA’s political action committee Political Victory Fund announced it had released its candidate grades and endorsements for the 2020 election cycle, and it encouraged members to see “see which candidates will fight for our right to self-defense.” 

Included in these endorsements are two congressional candidates that support the QAnon conspiracy theory, which has been linked to several acts of violence and is blatantly anti-Semitic. 

In Georgia’s 14th Congressional District race, the NRA endorsed Republican nominee Marjorie Taylor Greene and rated her “AQ,” which according to its grading system means “a pro-gun candidate whose rating is based solely on the candidate's responses to the NRA-PVF Candidate Questionnaire and who does not have a voting record on Second Amendment issues.” In Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District race, the group endorsed Lauren Boebert and rated her “A,” which means a “solidly pro-gun candidate” who has either “supported NRA positions on key votes in elective office” or has “a demonstrated record of support on Second Amendment issues.” 

On the same day the NRA announced its endorsement, Greene posted a photoshopped picture of herself on social media holding an AR-15-style assault weapon alongside images of progessive Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). Green wrote in the post that she wanted to go “on offense against these socialists.”  

In addition to supporting the QAnon conspiracy theory, Greene is also a 9/11 conspiracy theorist who suggested there is no evidence a plane actually crashed into the Pentagon during the terrorist attacks. Greene has also accused the Obama administration of enlisting the MS-13 gang members to assassinate late Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, echoing a post from the QAnon world.  

In February 2020, she visited the U.S. Capitol and filmed herself trying to get Tlaib and Omar, who are Muslim, to retake their oaths of office on the Bible. Greene also shared a virulently anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic video from the now-defunct far-right message board 8chan in 2015 and that has been cheered by white supremacists. 

In a 2018 speech she praised militia members, calling them the “very definition” of the Second Amendment. 

Boebert, who owns a gun-themed restaurant that has been defying Colorado’s COVID-19 restrictions, previously praised the QAnon conspiracy theory and flaunted the endorsement of white nationalist and coronavirus conspiracy theorist former Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo. Boebert also participated in a pro-gun rally with members of the Three Percenters, a far-right militia movement that has “long been active around the fringes of the white supremacist ecosystem” and has been connected to acts of violence over the years.   

See here for more on congressional candidates supporting the QAnon conspiracy theory.