QAnon Shaman to Run for Lesko Congressional Seat

Jacob Chansley, better known as the QAnon Shaman, filed paperwork on Thursday, October 9, 2023, to throw his buffalo-horn hat in the ring for Debbie Lesko’s soon-to-be-vacated congressional seat in CD8. You may remember Chansley as the half-naked, tattooed, and horn-adorned-hat-wearing protester whose leisurely strolled through the Capital.

Chansley became the iconic face of the January 6, 2021, so-called “insurrection” that sparked a harsh backlash from the Biden Administration. (We have yet to experience similar zeal in identifying and punishing those who participated in BLM riots for 100 consecutive nights in 2020, or for that matter, Hamas supporters who pounded on the doors of Grand Central Station just this weekend.)

Chansley, who calls Arizona home, was sentenced to 41 months in Federal prison for his role in the January 6 protest but was released into a “halfway house” in March of this year. Touting distinguished service in the Navy, Chansley was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, and the Navy and Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon prior to his dismissal stemming from his refusal to take an anthrax vaccination. He is also the author of two self-published political books: Will & Power: Inside the Living Library (Volume 1), published in 2017 under the pen name Loan Wolf, and One Mind at a Time: A Deep State of Illusion, published in 2020 under the name Jacob Angeli.

Chansley has been widely labeled a conspiracy theorist stemming from his views on vaccines and his alleged membership in QAnon. However, it was the footage of Chansley in “shaman” garb that gained national attention as the face of the January 6 Capital protest. Despite being charged with “knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds,” Chansley argued that he had walked through an open door and was escorted throughout the building by police officers who never made any attempt to stop or otherwise detain him. Despite pleading guilty to the charges, he maintains that at no time was he violent.

Ex-Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson subsequently filed a FOIA request for copies of the entire Capital “riot” footage, which diluted the original violence narrative and proved Chansley’s argument that he had “no part in the violence, did not hide his identity, was unarmed, not destructive, and followed the instructions of law enforcement officials in a respectful fashion.” However, Chansley still received one of the longest sentences issued as part of the Biden Administration’s January 6 retribution.

Grand Central Station, New York 🇺🇲: Pro-Palestinian 🇵🇸 protesters trying to breach the doors to reach police officers sheltering inside! 🤯

Do you realize that this is not about Israel anymore? It is about Jihad against Western civilization.
pic.twitter.com/8483PcGMxM

— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) November 11, 2023

Although Arizona law prohibits convicted felons from voting, the U.S. Constitution does not prohibit felons from holding federal office. Chansley plans to run as a Libertarian. If he wins the nomination for that party, he’ll face the winners of the Democratic and Republican primaries, which features an already crowded field that includes State luminaries Abe Hamadeh, Blake Masters, AZ House Speaker Ben Toma (R-27), AZ Senator Anthony Kern (R-LD27), Trent Franks, who had previously resigned from the seat, Seth Coates, Isiah Gallegos, perennial candidate Jimmy Rodriguez, singer/songwriter Rollie Stevens, and Brandon Urness, the Peoria mayor’s chief-of-staff.