Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee’s political organization Huck PAC has donated to at least five Republican candidates who have expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory, including $5,000 to longshot Oregon Senate candidate and avowed QAnon supporter Jo Rae Perkins.
QAnon is a violence-linked conspiracy theory based on cryptic posts to online message boards from an anonymous user known as “Q" that have spread rampantly on social media and among fringe right-wing media. QAnon conspiracy theorists essentially believe that President Donald Trump is secretly working to take down the purported “deep state,” a supposed cabal of satanic high-ranking officials who they claim are operating pedophile rings. The FBI has labeled the conspiracy theory a potential domestic terror threat.
Huckabee is a Republican who was previously the governor of Arkansas and a presidential candidate. He is now a Fox News contributor and the host of Huckabee on Trinity Broadcasting Network. In 2008, he founded Huck PAC to, in his words, “promote conservative principles and help elect conservative candidates at every level of government.”
Huck PAC’s website states that it has endorsed and donated $5,000 each to four campaigns: Oregon Senate candidate Jo Rae Perkins; Arizona House candidates Daniel Wood and Joshua Barnett; and New Jersey House candidate Billy Prempeh. (All four Republican candidates face long odds in winning their races.)
Perkins has repeatedly praised and defended QAnon, including declaring, “I stand with Q and the team.” She has also said that "some people think that I follow Q like I follow Jesus. Q is the information and I stand with the information resource.” Perkins has additionally pushed QAnon material on social media, promoted QAnon's slogan, and taken an oath supporting QAnon.
Wood has described himself as a follower of QAnon and frequently promoted QAnon on social media. Barnett has shared posts with the QAnon hashtag on social media (he has since distanced himself from QAnon.) Prempeh has promoted QAnon on social media and in an interview.
Huck PAC has also endorsed and donated $5,000 to the campaign of Colorado congressional candidate Lauren Boebert, who previously said that she is “very familiar with” QAnon and hoped that QAnon “is real because it only means America is getting stronger and better.” (She has since attempted to disingenuously distance herself from QAnon.) Boebert, who has ties to right-wing extremists, is in a competitive race against Democratic opponent Diane Mitsch Bush.
Media Matters has documented numerous instances of the Republican Party supporting the growth of the QAnon conspiracy theory.