Jacob Anthony Chansley.Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP/Shutterstock
Jacob Chansley,the Capitol riotersentenced to 41 months in prison after pleading guilty to felony obstruction of an official proceeding,filed the necessary paperworkto run for Congress as a Libertarian candidate in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District. The race is slated for Nov. 5, 2024.
Chansley was one of the most easily-recognized of the Capitol rioters, and was captured on video in the Senate Chamber shirtless, carrying a speared flagpole and chanting into a bullhorn while wearing a horned helmet and face paint.
In handing down Chansley’s sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth said, “What you did was horrific, obstructing the functioning of the government. What you did was terrible. You made yourself the epitome of the riot.”
Addressing the court himself, Chansley at the time said, “I have no excuse. No excuses whatsoever. My behavior is indefensible,“the Associated Press reports.
Chansley was ultimately released several months early, at which point he was transferred from federal prison to a halfway house in Arizona,CBS Newsreports.
His nickname — “QAnon Shaman” — referenced the false and elaborate conspiracy theory thatDonald Trumpwas, while president, secretly been battling a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles at the highest levels of political power and influence.
The AP reported earlier that Chansley, who formerly believed in the theory, doesn’t subscribe to it anymore.
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In entering the Congressional race, Chansley will face pro-Trump RepublicanBlake Masters, who ran for Senate against Democrat Mark Kelly and lost last year, and Abe Hamadeh, who lost Arizona’s attorney general race in 2022.
source: people.com
