Far-right GOP candidate Laura Loomer refuses to concede after losing Florida primary, baselessly alleging voter fraud
Fox35 Orlando
- Far-right GOP candidate Laura Loomer lost her primary race but refused to concede on Tuesday.
- She lost the Florida District 11 nomination to Rep. Dan Webster, but said "I'm a winner," crying.
- She baselessly lambasted "RINOs" who don't challenge "the voter fraud machine."
Far-right Republican Laura Loomer refused to concede after she lost her primary election in Florida on Tuesday, baselessly blaming voter fraud for her loss.
Loomer, a self-described "proud Islamophobe," addressed supporters through tears in Florida's 11th district. She lost to incumbent Dan Webster, according to Insider' election partner Decision Desk HQ.
"I'm not conceding because I'm a winner, the reality is our Republican Party is broken to its core," she said.
A portion of her speech was tweeted by News 6's Mike DeForest:
—Mike DeForest (@DeForestNews6) August 24, 2022
Webster's office did not immediately respond to Insider's query about whether Loomer had, since her speech, formally conceded.
Loomer, crying, said it "breaks my heart" to see the result.
"It breaks my heart that we are in a position in this country today where the Republican Party establishment is participating in the voter fraud machine," she said, without providing evidence, or specifying which election she was referring to.
Initially considered a long-shot prospect, Loomer gained 44% of the vote compared to Webster's 51%.
During a successful primary run for Florida's District 21 in 2020, former President Donald Trump boosted her with an approving tweet and Rep. Matt Gaetz gave her his endorsement. She ultimately lost to Democrat Lois Frankel in the general election.
On Tuesday, Loomer blamed her loss on several factors, including what she termed "big tech election interference." Loomer has been banned from multiple social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Clubhouse, after hateful conduct.
In this race, she also claimed that the media hadn't given her campaign enough attention, according to Fox35 Orlando.
If she had won, Loomer would have been a remarkably controversial candidate even in a party with a burgeoning hard-right wing. As well as her record of Islamophobic hatred, she has backed COVID-19 misinformation.
Loomer joins figures like Trump and Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene in lambasting the center of her own party as "Republicans in name only," or RINOs.
She said that "the corruption within our own feckless, cowardly Republican Party" was what inspired her to run against Webster.
"We do not live in a free country," she added.
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/LjKiUDV
No comments