“Deep state cabal” controls elections and has “power over all of our lives,” claims leader of QAnon-connected secretary of state candidates plot

Jim Marchant, who has QAnon ties, also says he is “working very close” with Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows and campaign attorney Cleta Mitchell

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

Jim Marchant, the leader of a “coalition” to recruit and elect secretary of state candidates pushing false voter fraud claims in 2022, claimed on a podcast that a “deep state cabal” is controlling elections and much of the world. He also said that he is working with Mark Meadows, White House chief of staff under former President Donald Trump, and Trump campaign attorney Cleta Mitchell as part of his efforts to sway future elections.

Marchant is a GOP candidate for secretary of state in Nevada and has multiple QAnon ties, as does his “coalition,” which was initially announced at a QAnon conference. The group is recruiting people who have pushed false voter fraud claims and is trying to get them elected to offices involved with election administration in an effort to “take back our country.”

While discussing the coalition on the podcast Flyover Conservatives -- which has regularly featured QAnon figures as guests -- Marchant claimed that “we haven’t in Nevada elected anybody since 2006” because “they have been installed by the deep state cabal.” This “cabal,” said Marchant, has “a lot of power over all of our lives here and in the whole world,” and “they’re concentrating on the United States because we are an impediment to … their supreme ultimate power.”

From an episode of Flyover Conservatives uploaded to Rumble on January 29, 2022

JIM MARCHANT (NEVADA SECRETARY OF STATE CANDIDATE): I ran for Congress in 2020, and I believe that I was a victim of election fraud, my opinion. And I believe that there was a lot of shenanigans going on there that caused me not to win, and I started immediately trying to uncover what was going on. I interfaced with a lot of great patriots that you know and some of them will be here today to try to start [to] uncover exactly how they cheated and present the evidence at some point. So I was approached by some Trump allies and people very close to President Trump, and they said, “Would you run for secretary of state instead of Congress again?” And I happily agreed because election integrity and voter fraud is in my wheelhouse. I have been trying to expose that since 2008 in Nevada. And most people don’t know this. But in 2004, Harry Reid and George Soros hatched a plan called the Secretary of State Project. I don't know if a lot of people know that.

DAVID WHITED (CO-HOST): I think it’s important to highlight because what we’re seeing today is full-grown trees from seeds that were planted a long time ago.

MARCHANT: Oh absolutely.

WHITED: This wasn't some organic thing that just came on the scene.

MARCHANT: No, they spent tens of millions of dollars getting their liberal progressive secretaries of states elected around the country, especially the key swing states, from 2006 on to now. And the 2020 result is a -- is because of that plan that they hatched back in 2004. And we’re just doing the same thing. And if you look at the video, you know, Jim Acosta and all of these people, they call us conspiracy theorists and yeah, we’re wackos, but they did it first. They did it back in 2004, ‘06, and they have been executing their flawless plan since then. And in Nevada and maybe other places all over the country, we haven’t in Nevada elected anybody since 2006. They have been installed by the deep state cabal. We have had no say so in our election process in Nevada. And that’s because of this plan.

…

WHITED: So people are realizing everything wasn’t about Trump-Biden, that that’s an important part, but some of the things are impacting my life might be from people that no one’s ever heard of.

MARCHANT: That’s right, and I mean, really, people you’ve never heard of. I mean, because I call them the cabal. And they are well-funded and evil. So they don’t want us to exist and they’re going to do everything in their power to make sure that we don't have any impact on their power to eliminate it or even minimize it. Because right now, they have a lot of power over all of our lives here and in the whole world, actually, but specifically here in America. And that’s why they’re concentrating on the United States because we are an impediment to their -- their supreme ultimate power.

Later on in the interview, Marchant said that he has “actually been working very close with” Mark Meadows, Cleta Mitchell, and the right-wing think tank Conservative Partnership Institute -- which both Meadows and Mitchell are part of -- saying they had “actually taken it upon themselves to help organize grassroot organizations like we have.”

From an episode of Flyover Conservatives uploaded to Rumble on January 29, 2022

JIM MARCHANT (NEVADA SECRETARY OF STATE CANDIDATE): Don’t give up on your country because our founders certainly didn’t, and they had a lot worse odds than we do right now, trust me. So stay involved, get involved, like we did in Virginia a month or so ago when we took over the governorship, lieutenant governor, I think [attorney general]. People finally were fed up and they got out and got engaged. They -- one of the most important things in this upcoming election is to volunteer to be poll workers and vote-counting watchers. That’s so important because that’s what we did in Virginia and the instant there was something that looked wrong, we had attorneys there and we pounced on it and we stopped it and look what happened.

DAVID WHITED (CO-HOST): For the same reason that sometimes a police department will just park a car in a parking lot. It’s unmanned, but just that, just the idea of, “Hey, somebody’s watching.” There’s the idea of there’s some control around here. Otherwise, it's all -- it’s all being run by substitute teachers and the kids do what they want.

MARCHANT: That’s exactly right. Yup, and that’s what we’re intending to do here. We’re going to duplicate what we did in Virginia and all of the other states, hopefully. I’ve actually been working very close with Mark Meadows and Cleta Mitchell with the Conservative Partnership Institute. They have actually taken it upon themselves to help organize grassroot organizations like we have, and like we have in Nevada, like they had in Virginia, and and we’re going to -- we’re going to work hard between now and November.