Democratic opponent of Marjorie Taylor Greene, the QAnon-supporting GOP candidate, drops out of congressional race

Jordan Lancaster
Daily Caller
Fri, 11 Sep 2020 18:12 UTC

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Marjorie Taylor Greene

The Democratic opponent of Republican Georgia congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene announced that he is exiting the race Friday.

"I am heartbroken to announce that for family and personal reasons, I cannot continue this race for Congress," Kevin Van Ausdal said in a statement. "After lengthy discussions with my team, attorneys, party officials, and others, the answer was clear, stepping aside would be best for the voters."

Van Ausdal said that he is moving away from Georgia and as a result, will be disqualified from the race.

"This rhetoric has turned into dangerous extremism, like the candidacy of Marjorie Greene," he added. "I will put every resource, every bit of knowledge into the campaign that comes behind me to defeat Marjorie and restore hope to the people of Northwest Georgia."

When asked on Twitter if there is time for another candidate to take his place, Van Ausdal said "yes, our team believes so." However, Georgia law says that a candidate cannot be replaced if they withdraw fewer than 60 days prior to the election, and the election is 53 days away, The Hill reported.

Greene has sparked controversy due to her previous support for QAnon, a group that believes that there is an elite pedophile ring and that an anonymous government figure, "Q", is communicating with them through symbols and other messages. She has since walked back her support for the group, saying that it doesn't represent her.

Comment: Greene claims she was looking into Q when doing research, but that it no longer represents her views. From Trump on QAnon believing he is saving world from pedophiles: 'Is that supposed to be a bad thing?':

Greene disavowed her belief in the conspiracy earlier this week, saying the videos no longer represent her views.

"No, it doesn't represent me," she told Fox News. "But I don't expect a lot of the left-leaning media to change their stance. I think they're going to continue to attack me because they actually do see me as someone who's unapologetically conservative. And I won't back down on my beliefs and my values."

Greene said she had delved into the QAnon rabbit hole during the Trump-Russia investigation in an attempt to gather information.

"I was just one of those people, just like millions of other Americans, that just started looking at other information," Greene said. "And so, yeah, there was a time there for a while that I had read about Q, posted about it, talked about it, which is some of these videos you've seen come out. But once I started finding misinformation, I decided that I would choose another path."

As she said, the media has been slow to correct their characterization of her.

Greene is almost certain to win the Congressional race in her deep red Georgia district, according to The Hill. President Donald Trump has expressed his support for Greene, congratulating her on Twitter for her primary win in August and calling her a "future Republican star."

Comment: More from RT:

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While Van Ausdal's campaign offered few details about his reasons for stepping down, several supporters have suggested he pulled out of the race due to harassment and "serious death threats" from other members of the QAnon community. A campaign spokesperson quashed the rumors, saying neither Van Ausdal nor his staffers had received any threats. Some remained unconvinced, however, pointing to a statement from the campaign noting that the candidate "is safe."

Running in a reliably Republican district in the Deep South, Van Ausdal's campaign was something of a long shot, but his resignation nonetheless surprised fellow Democrats, with Cathy Griffith, the chair of the Catoosa County party, stating she "didn't know about it until this morning."

Though the Democratic Party of Georgia said it intends to "name a replacement as soon as possible," state law may preclude that possibility, as it sets a 60-day deadline for replacement candidates in the case of a withdrawal. As of Friday, there were just 53 days left until the election, leaving it unclear how the party will proceed.

Van Ausdal's sudden pull-out came just hours before Georgia Republican Tom Graves announced that he would not finish out his term, saying he would retire early next month. Graves, who currently holds the same seat in Georgia's 14th District sought by Greene, previously said he would not run for re-election. With Van Ausdal's withdrawal and a chance that no Democrat will replace him, Greene is all but assured of victory come November.