Update (last updated 11/29/22): This article has been repeatedly updated with more congressional candidates, primary results, and other details.
Update (4/1/22): Minnesota’s Danielle Stella has been removed from this list; she wrote in 2021 that she planned to run -- likely in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, where she unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2020 -- but did not proceed with a candidacy.
Multiple people who have expressed some level of support for the QAnon conspiracy theory, which got its start on far-right message boards, are running for Congress in 2022.
The QAnon conspiracy theory, which revolves around an anonymous account known as “Q,” started on far-right message board site 4chan, later moving to fellow far-right message board site 8chan, which has since relaunched as 8kun. (Beyond the QAnon conspiracy theory, 8chan/8kun has been linked to multiple instances of white supremacist terrorism, including the 2019 massacre in El Paso, Texas.) Some supporters of QAnon have been tied to violent incidents and participated in the January 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol, and multiple government agencies have issued internal warnings of domestic terrorism regarding supporters of the conspiracy theory.
Besides these congressional candidates, there are multiple gubernatorial candidates in the 2022 election cycle who have expressed some level of support for the conspiracy theory, and there are multiple candidates seeking offices that have control over state elections who have supported the conspiracy theory or appealed to its supporters.
Among these 73 candidates who have previously endorsed or given credence at some level to the conspiracy theory or promoted QAnon content:
- Fifteen were from Florida, nine were from California, six were from Texas, four each were from Illinois, Arizona, and New York, three were from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, two each were from Nevada, Maryland, Tennessee, Connecticut, Oregon, and Ohio, and there was one each from Rhode Island, Virginia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, Vermont, Iowa, Alaska, Washington, Georgia, and Colorado.
- Two of the candidates, Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene and Colorado’s Lauren Boebert, were reelected to Congress.
- One of the candidates, Texas’ Mayra Flores, was elected to Congress in a special election, but lost her election for a full term. Another candidate, in Florida, unsuccessfully ran for a special congressional election held in January.
- Sixteen major party candidates secured a spot on the general election ballot: Texas’ Johnny Teague and Mayra Flores; Ohio’s J.R. Majewski; Oregon’s Jo Rae Perkins; California’s Mike Cargile, Omar Navarro, and Alison Hayden; New Jersey’s Billy Prempeh; Nevada’s Sam Peters; Tennessee’s Charlotte Bergmann; Florida’s Carla Spalding; Massachusetts’ Donnie Palmer; New York’s Tina Forte; Arkansas’ John White; Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene; and Colorado’s Lauren Boebert.
- Four independent candidates secured a spot on the general election ballot: Florida’s Christine Scott, Tennessee’s Matt Makrom, Vermont’s Mark Coester, and Virginia’s David Foster.
- Sixty-one were Republicans, one was a Democrat, one was a Libertarian, and 10 were independents.
- Forty-two previously ran for Congress in 2020. Three previously ran for a state legislative seat in 2020.
Below are the 2022 congressional candidates who previously endorsed or gave credence to the conspiracy theory or promoted QAnon content, organized by state and then by last name in alphabetical order.