{"id":7785,"date":"2026-09-28T14:58:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T14:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=7785"},"modified":"2026-09-28T14:58:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T14:58:38","slug":"these-extremists-are-running-for-election-in-november","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=7785","title":{"rendered":"These Extremists Are Running for Election in November"},"content":{"rendered":"


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There are five<\/span> weeks left until the midterm elections, and extremism is on the ballot in much of the US. A WIRED review of candidates running for statewide and federal positions in November, along with exclusive data on candidates running for state-level positions, reveals hundreds of Republican candidates who openly express virulently hateful ideologies<\/a>, share racist content online<\/a>, have close ties to white supremacist<\/a> and antisemitic figures, and are members of far-right groups online<\/a>. President Donald Trump<\/a> and his administration have openly embraced, endorsed and defended many of these candidates.<\/p>\n

At a local level, over 500 candidates running for state legislator positions in November are members of far-right groups on Facebook that promote militias, gun rights, and Christian nationalism, according to data collected by the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights and shared with WIRED.<\/p>\n

While many extremist candidates\u2014such as groyper James Fishback<\/a> and antisemitic influencer Dan Bilzarian<\/a>\u2014 didn\u2019t make it through GOP primaries, many made it to the general election, and a number of them are expected to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe candidates are taking a page out of the Trump administration\u2019s playbook,\u201d Luke Baumgartner, a former research fellow at George Washington University\u2019s Program on Extremism, tells WIRED. Baumgartner claims that many of the candidates running in November have been inspired by those in the White House. \u201cIn essence, the executive branch has handed them a permission slip to say and do what would have been unthinkable during the George W. Bush, McCain, or [Mitt] Romney eras of the GOP,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Extremist rhetoric has led to real world political threats. In 2025, terrorism and targeted violence incidents rose 19 percent<\/a> compared to 2024, according to researchers at the University of Maryland; the US Capitol Police reported an increase in \u201cthreat assessment cases\u201d against members of Congress for the third year in a row, with a 58 percent increase from 2024<\/a>; and the US Marshals Service documented<\/a> threats against almost 400 judges, a roughly 5 percent increase from the previous year.<\/p>\n

Here are five races involving candidates who have shared extremist ideologies or have close ties to extremist figures, that WIRED is watching ahead of the November midterms.<\/p>\n

The Texas Railroad Commissioner Race<\/h2>\n
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\"MANSFIELD<\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n

Photo-Illustration: WIRED Staff; Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Bo French, the GOP candidate for Texas Railroad Commissioner, is so extreme that Republican strategist Karl Rove has said<\/a> he would vote for a Democrat rather than supporting a \u201cbigot.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are five weeks left until the midterm elections, and extremism is on the ballot in much of the US. A WIRED review of candidates running for statewide and federal positions in November, along with exclusive data on candidates running for state-level positions, reveals hundreds of Republican candidates who openly express virulently hateful ideologies, share […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[130,129,457,50,75,131],"class_list":["post-7785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-extremism","tag-government","tag-politics","tag-republicans"],"yoast_head":"\nThese Extremists Are Running for Election in November - Silvybrand Lifestyle Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With the threat of political violence at unprecedented levels, state and federal GOP candidates are openly sharing racist, pro-militia, anti-vaccine, sexist, antisemitic, and secessionist views.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=7785\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"These Extremists Are Running for Election in November - 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