A woman who’s been blasted for racist videos and adamant support for the QAnon conspiracy theory faces a neurosurgeon who campaigned on his experience to improve the health care system in Tuesday’s Republican primary runoff for an open U.S. House seat representing northwest Georgia.
The race could indicate just how far candidates are able to push the limits of political rhetoric in the age of President Donald Trump before risking backlash from voters.
Businesswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has received national attention for a series of videos and social media posts where she expresses racist views and support for the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon. That’s led some Republican officials to condemn her campaign and raised opponent John Cowan’s profile.
Both Cowan and Greene have positioned themselves as staunch supporters of Trump, pushing anti-abortion, pro-gun and pro-border wall messages. But while Cowan has taken a more traditional approach to his campaign, Greene has found a loyal following — and controversy — online with a continuous flow of video chats and social posts.
Greene led in the initial June 9 Republican primary by a wide margin but failed to secure enough votes to win the nomination outright.
Soon after that race, a series of videos were unearthed in which Greene expresses racist, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim views. In the videos, she complains of an “Islamic invasion” into government offices, claims Black and Hispanic men are held back by “gangs and dealing drugs,” and pushes an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that billionaire philanthropist George Soros, who is Jewish, collaborated with the Nazis.
Greene also is part of a growing list of candidates who have expressed support for QAnon, a U.S. conspiracy theory popular among some Trump supporters.
She has responded to criticism of her rhetoric by blasting “the fake news media” and “the DC swamp.”
Cowan has strongly pushed back on Greene’s comments, saying in a recent interview that she “deserves her own YouTube channel, and not a seat in Congress.”
He says he’d use his experience as a doctor to improve the health care system and he’d push to repeal the Affordable Care Act, though he supports keeping protections for preexisting conditions.
Greene has in turn attacked Cowan as not being sufficiently conservative, branding him a RINO, a derisive acronym that stands for Republican In Name Only.
Georgia’s 14th Congressional District stretches from the outskirts of metro Atlanta to the largely rural northwest corner of the state.
The winner of Tuesday’s runoff will face Democrat Kevin Van Ausdal in November. Republican Rep. Tom Graves, who did not seek reelection, last won the seat with over 76% of the vote in 2018.
Related Stories
‹
![]()
3 Men Charged in Ahmaud Arbery’s Death Convicted of MurderWritten by RUSS BYNUM Three men were convicted of murder Wednesday in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, the Black man who was running empty-handed through a Georgia subdivision when the white strangers chased him, trapped him on a quiet street and blasted him with a shotgun. The February 2020 slaying drew limited attention at first. But […]
![]()
Arbery’s Shooter Admits He Was Not Under Any ThreatWritten by RUSS BYNUM and JEFFREY COLLINS The man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery testified Thursday that the 25-year-old Black man’s demeanor struck as him as suspicious when he pulled up beside him in his pickup truck to ask him what he was doing in a coastal Georgia neighborhood. Travis McMichael said neighbors indicated that […]
![]()
Attorney: No More `Black Pastors’ in Court for Arbery CaseWritten by RUSS BYNUM An attorney for one of the white men standing trial in the death of Ahmaud Arbery told the judge Thursday he doesn’t want “any more Black pastors” in the courtroom after the Rev. Al Sharpton sat with the slain man’s family. Kevin Gough represents William “Roddie” Bryan, who along with father […]
![]()
Police Investigate Racist Abuse of Three England PlayersWritten by FRANK GRIFFITHS and PAN PYLAS British police opened investigations Monday into the racist abuse of three Black players who missed penalties in England’s shootout loss to Italy in the European Championship final. The Metropolitan Police condemned the “unacceptable” abuse of Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, and said they will be investigating […]

Warnock Makes History With Senate Win as Dems Near MajorityDemocrat Raphael Warnock won one of Georgia’s two Senate runoffs Wednesday, becoming the first Black senator in his state’s history and putting the Senate majority within the party’s reach. A pastor who spent the past 15 years leading the Atlanta church where Martin Luther King Jr. preached, Warnock defeated Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler. It was a stinging […]

Decision Day in Georgia With Senate Majority at StakeGeorgia voters are set to decide the balance of power in Congress in a pair of high-stakes Senate runoff elections that will help determine President-elect Joe Biden’s capacity to enact what may be the most progressive governing agenda in generations. Republicans are unified against Biden’s plans for health care, environmental protection and civil rights, but […]

Trump, on Tape, Presses Georgia Official To ‘Find’ Him VotesPresident Donald Trump pressured Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state’s presidential election, repeatedly citing disproven claims of fraud and raising the prospect of a “criminal offense” if officials did not change the vote count, according to a recording of the conversation. The phone call […]
![]()
Faith Takes the Forefront as Georgia Senate Runoffs Heat UpBishop Reginald Jackson stepped to the microphone at a drive-in rally outside a church in southwest Atlanta as his voice carried over a loudspeaker and the radio to people gathered in, around and on top of cars that filled the parking lot. “Let’s keep Georgia blue,” Jackson said. “Let’s elect Jon Ossoff, Raphael Warnock to […]
![]()
Georgia Elections Chief Fights Fellow Republicans, TrumpGeorgia’s secretary of state is a man on an island, and the political flood is rising fast, as President Donald Trump and his allies vent their outrage at the fellow Republican over unsupported claims that mismanagement and fraud tainted the state’s presidential election. Trump spent the weekend attacking Brad Raffensperger on social media, at one […]

Trump Sues in 3 States, Laying Ground for Contesting OutcomeAs Democrat Joe Biden inched closer to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House, President Donald Trump’s campaign put into action the legal strategy the president had signaled for weeks: attacking the integrity of the voting process in states where the result could mean his defeat. Democrats scoffed at the legal […]
›