Loomer fielded five other candidates to capture her party’s nomination, and won about 43 percent of the vote Wednesday morning, according to unofficial results from the Florida constituency.
But Loomer’s chances in November against the Democratic commitment Rep. Lois Frankel are less certain in a district that is heavily democratically located. Their victory is emblematic of how the GOP does not discount candidates, but embraces those who have a record of infectious rhetoric or who support conspiracy theories.
Loomer has been removed from multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for her anti-Muslim comments.
Before she was banned from Twitter, Loomer wrote in 2017 that “I never want another Muslim to enter this country” and used hashtags like #ProudIslamophobe, according to the Republic of Arizona.
In the wake of a terrorist attack in New York in 2017, she was banned from Uber and Lyft after making comments to discourage the employment of Muslims, NBC News reported at the time.
In videos posted on her campaign website, Loomer, who is Jewish, also targeted US Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who are Muslims, accuse her of anti-Semitism.
She has fueled conspiracy theories, such as accusing the student of surviving the 2018 Parkland shooting of food lines, and that same year she said “not to buy” that pipe bombs were sent to CNN and prominent Democrats. After an investigation, Cesar Sayoc pleaded guilty and pleaded guilty to mailing 16 improved explosive devices. He was sentenced to 20 years and no one was physically harmed by his devices.
Loomer calls herself an investigative journalist and has previously worked for the controversial website, Project Veritas, whose deceptive research tactics have drawn criticism.
While he did not endorse Loomer, the president retweeted in support of her campaign and congratulated her on Tuesday after the news of her win.
“Great going Laura. You have a great chance against a Pelosi puppet!” Trump
tweeted Tuesday night.
His kudos to Loomer come after his praise last week for Georgian Republican candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene, who slammed her party nomination for a U.S. House race and looks set to win a seat in Congress in a solid GOP district. Greene also has a history of inflammatory rhetoric, including Islamophobic remarks, and has made positive statements about the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory.
Asked about Loomer and Greene’s anti-Muslim rhetoric and whether those views are heard in Congress, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters on Wednesday, “The president routinely congratulates those who have officially received the Republican nomination for Congress. “He does that as a matter of course.”
“He has not taken a deep dive into the statements of these two particular women. I do not know if he has seen that himself, but he supports the Muslim community. He supports the community of faith widely in this country,” McEnany said during a press release at the White House.
The Trumps voted in Florida’s primary convention Tuesday after appointing someone to raise and drop their votes in Palm Beach, an official familiar with the matter told CNN. But the White House declined to say who they voted for.
Last year, the president and first lady had changed their permanent residence at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach.
Some of Trump’s top allies, including Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Roger Stone, supported Loomer.
She had raised more than $ 1 million in campaign contributions, with Infowars founder and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones included among her donors.
Frankel won the Democratic primary on Tuesday with 86% of the vote as of Wednesday morning, according to the Florida constituency. She has represented the district since 2017, after defeating her Republican challenger by nearly 28 percentage points in the 2016 election. She ran unoposed in the midterms of 2018.
Trump won Florida in the 2016 presidential election, but the 21st Congressional District went to Hillary Clinton by a margin of nearly 20 points.
CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
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